GOD LURES US GENTLY TO HIM

The Annunciation

Many times, I have explained to the hot headed among us that God does not use force as a method of ensuring obedience.

"If you love me, keep my commandments"

~ John 14:15 ~

The Lord knows that true love will inspire us to follow in His path. When He created us, He gave us free will and He uses enticements and gentle allurements to bring us to Him. He never forces or accuses. He doesn't use any kind of punishment to bring us to Him. It is always a free will offering.

He could have decreed that Mary be the mother of Jesus, for instance. Instead, he sent his angel to ask her if she would accept it. He needed her "yes," her fiat.

When I first came to New Mexico, I had a quote written on a little piece of paper that I had kept in my wallet for several years:

"I will lead her into the desert, and there I

will speak to her heart."

~ Hosea 2:14 ~

Any inspiration that I receive in meditation or contemplation is rooted in Love. Whatever action I may be encouraged to follow, if it truly comes from our Lord, is gentle and flows easily. I am not called to take anyone to task or adopt a harsh demeanor, unless my ego is too activated. In which case, the "inspiration" has to be abandoned.

Richard Rohr has written a beautiful meditation in the orbit of this theme:

"If a voice comes from accusation and leads to accusation,

it is quite simply the voice of the "Accuser," which is the 

literal meaning of the biblical word "Satan." Shaming,

accusing, or blaming is simply not how God talks. God is

supremely nonviolent. God only cajoles, softens, and 

invites us into an always bigger field and it is always a

unified field."

† Richard Rohr †

There are times when we are sure we are "right" about a topic - and we may very well be "right" - then we get overly involved in discussions with friends or on social media. I have fallen into that trap, at times. We are well meaning. We want to spread "the Truth" around. It may be the "Truth" with a capital "T" but is it God's will that we spread the word? Never mind if it is a "holy" topic. That is not enough to guarantee that God is asking us to champion it.

I am so grateful to read Richard Rohr's wonderful words today.  It is a blessing to be reminded of what we know, isn't it?

God bless us all
Silver Rose

GOD IS TRUTH

"The Devil was a murderer from the beginning,

not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in

him. When he lies, he speaks his native language,

for he is a liar and the father of lies."

~ John 8:44 ~

Christians with even the slightest Christian education know that lying is a terrible sin and that God is Truth in the ultimate sense. In the Ten Commandments, there is the admonishment not to give "false witness," there is the story of Annanias and Saphira, who were struck dead on the spot for lying to the Apostles, and most directly in the quote I have provided from John 8, we are told that Satan is the father of all lies. While the Lord is all truth, all goodness, all light, Satan is the opposite, and where you find a plethora of lies is exactly where you have found Satan, because Satan is the original author of every lie that is ever told.

The liar and those who repeat lies will have to answer for it on judgment day. Every lie that is told and willfully repeated without any effort to determine the authenticity of it is an occasion on which the "Christian" has said "yes" to Satan, the father of all lies, and "no" to God, thereby violating their baptismal covenant with Jesus, and establishing themselves as a servant of the dark one.

I realize the language sounds a bit archaic, but matters of heaven and hell often do.

Satan whispers into the ear of Jesus

We have a president who has told the American public more than 10,000 lies since coming into office. These lies are proven. These lies are not even hidden. There are copious videos that prove his lies.

There are also countless articles listing, demonstrating, and linking to proof that Trump is continually lying. His lying is EASILY proven. He constantly misrepresents himself and others, yet some self-described Christians repeat his lies. All they would have to do is watch the videos, read the articles and, most especially, read the Mueller Report if they want to learn about the most egregious lies and how they figure into his multiple crimes.

I am not telling you for whom you should vote. Voting is a political calculation. For instance, I have some friends for whom making abortion illegal is all they care about. They'd put their money on a barn-sour nag if they thought it would make abortion go away. Many of them will say, "all politicians lie," ignoring the fact that no one lies to the massive degree that Trump does. He is a world class, bald faced, unrepentant liar. In fact, he is the most prolific liar EVER.

You vote for who you vote for - but you don't have to repeat and perpetuate lies. That's what I'm talking about: THE LIES.

Instead of being a tool in the hand of Satan, check your statements with nonpartisan, reliable arbiters of fact. In the public sphere, that would be

FACT CHECK

SNOPES

POLITIFACT

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

There is no excuse to remain ignorant of the Truth, particularly if you are repeating the lies that are being employed to advance a political agenda.

I have a feeling that some Christians are repeating the lies and hatred of Trump and his cronies because they think that they have to do that in order to be considered a supporter of his and thereby a supporter of the hobby horse that made them vote for him to begin with.

Though the cognitive dissonance of supporting your hobby horse on the one hand and decrying the lies and dishonesty on the other may drive you mad, welcome to the club. I support the social justice platform of the democrats but I dislike the amoral engineering, such as when they talk about abortion being "health care" or act like it is some kind of positive good, which I find bizarre.

Neither party is suited to a Christian worldview, and that's just a fact. We are all trying to do the best we can to vote for what appears to be the least injurious platform, in a holistic sense, without losing our souls in the process.

Support what you find that is good but don't perpetuate the lies. Don't take on the sins of Trump and his minions or you will suffer for them personally.

Silver Rose

PLEASE DON'T JUDGE JESUS BY THE "CHRISTIANS" WHO SUPPORT TRUMP

Even though Donald Trump's outrageous lies are easily unmasked by watching a video of him speaking his own contradictions or of eye witnesses, experts and professional testimony and photographs, some people choose to believe Trump and his lies.

They believe the lies of his lackeys and sycophants, such as Jeff Sessions, when he claims that jailing children at our borders is Biblical because God has installed our leaders, relying upon a text-twisted Biblical reference divorced from its moorings and rendered opposite in its meaning by removing the surrounding text that directs and defines it.

The idea that all the policies of all heads of government are holy because God installs all the leaders is another version of Nixon's comment that "if the president does it, it isn't illegal." This idea, if followed to its logical conclusion, would mean that all actions of every dictator and despot in the world are a positive good from God. This is patently ridiculous. It is neither legal nor Biblical.

Unfortunately, when Trump apologists cite the Bible and Christianity as authorities for their actions, they make claims about Christianity that are completely false. For instance it is the antithesis of the Christian message to behave in a cruel way toward immigrants. The Old and New Testaments are very clear on this. Jews and Christians alike are told to be kind to strangers, for once we were also strangers. Dire warnings are given for those who fail to do this.

Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you

accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his

angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was

thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me

no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in 

prison, and you did not care for me.

~ Matthew 25 ~

The Bible consistently affirms that Satan is "the father of all lies." Many Christians are saying that it doesn't matter that Trump lies continually because "all politicians lie." Excusing Trump's lies because someone else has lied would excuse Hitler from murdering millions of Jews because some other leader killed someone at some time. "They all do it."

Shall we excuse all the murderers from prison because someone else, somewhere, in some way, killed someone?

If we justify Trump's continual lies because, supposedly, "Hillary did it," should we then adopt all of Hillary Clinton's actions as our model to follow? Should we follow the worst behavior of other people, or should we uphold Biblical values?

If so-called "family values" Christians think it is fine that Trump has brought with him a legion of women who are suing him for various assaults because he is, supposedly, a "baby Christian," then how much more forgiving would they be of Clinton and the two women who sued him? Right? No?

Sometimes I worry that the "Christian" support of Donald Trump has obliterated the possibility of bringing the Gospel message to non-Christians. Today, we do not have a prayer of gaining converts, unless they are people who are devoted to principles that are the OPPOSITE of Biblical principles. Neo Nazis, white supremacists, sociopaths who blackmail voters by tormenting children, and pathological liars would feel at home in the "Christianity" that is being advertised by the Trump administration. Jesus weeps!

Having studied and been a part of many different religions in my lifetime, I can tell you that people come to religion for a variety of reasons, not all of them honorable. Every religion has its hypocrites who neither follow the religious precepts nor advocate for them. Each of them has a certain number of people who use the religion to get things they want on earth, or simply to make themselves feel good.

Religious institutions are full of people - and people are very flawed. A good portion are sincere and make a good faith effort to live their faith. The rest are either coasting or perverting the message to their own ends.

Jesus knew this would happen. He said that, in the end, people would cry to Him, "Lord! Lord" and He would reject some of them, saying, "I do not know you."

This is why I do not judge a faith by any of the people that fail to live up to it. I would not want the Christianity that approves of the sins of Donald Trump and his people. THAT "Christianity" is abhorrent to me and to every Christian who knows the message of Christ. Thanks be to God, I do not belong to that Christianity.

I can only pray that people inclined toward true Christian values do not turn their backs on Christianity because of this vile circus that is being played out in our halls of so-called "justice."

Silver Rose

THE LADDER TO HEAVEN

LADDER BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH

Sometimes, when I hear a pro-Trump mob shouting approval for his xenophobic, racist and nationalistic comments, it really frightens me. It sounds very much like the recordings I have heard of Hitler inflaming the German people, urging them to hate the Jews and blaming Jews for everything that has gone wrong in their lives.

White Germans went on to kill Jews, Armenians, artists, homosexuals, and anyone who violated the cultural norms of middle class whites or disagreed with the Nazi methods. What is next for Americans if the far right wing of the GOP stays in power?

While Hitler was a true believer of his own toxic political philosophy, I think that Trump is simply using the presidency to fill his empty coffers. I believe that Trump is leading his followers into a cruel future, not because he wants to help us reach some kind of ideal, but because he needs the money. He is using his power to fill the government with people who are dedicated to making the rich even richer, removing all obstacles to the wealthy being able to amass even more money than they already have. Along the way, his businesses and the businesses of his relatives, are being flooded with foreign cash.

I suspect that Trump refused to publish his tax returns because he was broke - at least his version of being broke. He gave government positions and offices in the White House to his relatives who manage his business interests. Since becoming president, money from foreign governments especially, has come pouring even harder into the Trump businesses, including his daughter Ivanka's business, which, just this week, received another 7 special trademarks with China - within days of Trump's announcement that he intended to save China's ZTE Corporation, a sudden reversal of his "policy" that no new foreign contracts would be allowed during his presidency.

Ignoring my suspicions about this venal motive of his, which can only be inferred at this point, I am concerned that a large percentage of Americans are being manipulated with tried and true techniques used by authoritarian figures throughout history. They are being turned and formed on the lathe of hate and ignorance. They have given themselves over to it willingly because Trump, a typical authoritarian figure,  either promises them relief from responsibility for the bleak condition of their lives or gives them reassurance that their country will not be overrun with brown people. The authoritarian figure capitalizes upon the mob's fears. He sacrifices the immigrant, the poor person, the black person, in a social lynching.

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me,

you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil

and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no

food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger

and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me

no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me."

Matthew 25

Many of Trump's supporters are white evangelicals, according to recent news articles and statistics. These supporters of the far right ignore the continual and insistent message of the Bible to love one's neighbor as much as oneself.  The Bible is full of references to helping the poor and the stranger. Trump supporters imagine that it is acceptable to support the destruction of all our vulnerable populations and to turn away the refugee under a supposedly "pro life" and "pro family" banner. It boggles the mind.

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and

her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless

ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they 

were haughty and committed abominations before me.

Therefore, I removed them when I saw it."

Zek. 16:49

I wonder what kind of family they have in mind, when I listen to trump brag about grabbing women "by the p...y" and then, later, denying he had actually done it when 19 women complain about being assaulted by him. He called them liars and impugned their character, as if being groped by Donald Trump was something anyone would want known about them. There is no advantage in it. It is nothing but humiliation.

"Stormy Daniels"

The affair with the porn star, how he tried to cover it up, lied about it, lied about the payment, got caught lying, then had to fess up, does not sound like family values to me. His attorney, Rudy Giuliani, paints a picture of a man who regularly needs his affairs to be cleaned up in this manner and who feeds money into a slush fund for this purpose. Trump's wife, Melania, was pregnant and then had just given birth to their child when Trump was having sex with the porn star, risking the health of wife and baby. What kind of family values is that?

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has

faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food

for the day, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace,

keep warm, and eat well,' but you do not give them the

necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith

of itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

James 2:14-17

I am not being obtuse. I am well aware that the only criteria for "pro family" in the minds of evangelicals is often nothing more than making abortion illegal while at the same time starving the hungry. Abortion is not going to become illegal in America until America experiences severe trauma as a result of not having enough young people working to support the society.

Trump has made some movements in the direction of making abortions more difficult to get, but they are not permanent. As soon as he leaves office, all of that will be overturned. People will have to stop killing their babies of their own accord. Men like Donald Trump would have to stop having affairs that need to be hidden, for one thing.

It is a mystery to me why evangelicals have sold themselves so cheaply, with so little to gain, and so much to lose. Associating Donald Trump with the topic of abortion automatically denigrates the position of the pro-life movement with the majority of the voting public.

Donald Trump - the choice of white evangelicals

It isn't just the evangelicals. Just yesterday, a priest blabbed some far right propaganda onto Facebook that supposedly most of our refugees are Muslim and that he believes they should not be "given welfare," (i.e., helped to survive) because they come from Muslim countries and they're old enough to be in the Army. This convoluted, logic-strained rationalization based on a false narrative is what passes for compassion in his world, apparently. He is sucking up all the admiration of his flock, enjoying the status of being a priest, and gut-punching Jesus at the same time. Hypocrites like this make me want to scream and tear my hair out.

Jesus told us that going to heaven when we die is not a sure thing. He said that many people would come to him, in the end, and beseech him, saying, "Lord! Lord!" and He would tell them to get away from him and that he does not know them. Getting baptised, donating to the church and appearing now and then are not going to get us through the pearly gates.

This topic reminds me of an icon that I look at quite frequently. It is the ladder to heaven. All along the ladder, people are falling off and falling into the pit of hell, where Satan's demons await them.

God help me, but the address of Jared Kushner's beleaguered property on 5th street is 666. I'm just saying.

The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed

robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have

oppressed the sojourner without justice...Thus, I have poured out

My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of 

My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,: declares the

Lord GOD.

Ezek. 22:29,31

Silver Rose Parnell

WAITING FOR THE LOCUSTS

The Plague of Locusts - Holman

In my last post I mentioned that I had been diagnosed with macular degeneration, but I somewhat "hid the lead" as there is so much going on right now, I hardly know what to mention first.

A few days before my doctor appointment, I was praying, and suddenly a voice came to me and said, "You have macular degeneration." I dismissed it as a trick of the mind. I refuse to be one of those people that clings to the oddly fantastical. I will not be oohing and ahhing over the face of Jesus appearing on a tortilla, nor am I interested in becoming an oracle for the entertainment of others. I just heard this voice and dismissed it.

A couple days later, however, when I heard the same words being said to me by the eye doctor, I was stunned. I have no idea what it means that I was given knowledge of this ahead of time. It could have been God talking to me or it could have been Satan. Chances are, it was probably Satan.

We sometimes forget that Satan will offer us powers and other emoluments to get us under his spell. When some people imagine the workings of Satan, they picture ugliness and horror. They forget that the Devil was originally created as an angel and has angelic powers. Even HE knows that you get more flies with honey than vinegar, so he will offer a person the chance to be admired by others, to be special in some way, to see the future, tell fortunes, etc. I imagine this is the reason that the Christian faith is firmly opposed to Ouija boards, palm reading, and all the related attempts at divination. This is Satan's territory, and you open yourself up to demons when you play around with these things.

It is not fashionable to believe in Satan these days. Even some men of the cloth will say they do not believe, but I assure you that Satan believes in YOU and wants nothing more than to steer you away from everything holy. He is delighted that people no longer believe in him, because it allows him to move among us unseen and unrecognized.

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

by Tracey Long

I steer clear of all mystics, visionaries and supernatural phenomena until The Church investigates and gives thumbs up or thumbs down on its origination. It bothers me that so many have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the Medjugorje circus, as it has several signs of being a fraud, and it is going to really upset some people when The Church refuses to sanction it. Some will leave the church, probably, as they have made it their pet project. Some will defy The Church and continue promoting it. This is classic Satan side show. Give the people something that is fantastical and otherworldly, pretending to be of God, get them hooked, and then pull them away from The Church with it. I have friends who dearly love the Medjugorje thing, and I worry about them very much. I don't think they will give it up, if The Church's decision is against it.

Anyway, I digress.  Back to the macular degeneration. I really would have rather gone deaf than blind because noise really bothers me and I use my eyes a LOT in my art and my writing. We don't get to choose the crosses with which we are loaded down, however, so I must get used to this idea and try to prepare myself as best I can for what lays ahead.  My philosophy is to prepare myself for the worst case scenario, and then I will be ready for anything.

Don't think I am sanguine and all relaxed about this situation, however. I do try to look on the bright side of things and accept what comes, but I admit to being very unhappy about this latest development. My entire life, I have been overshadowed by a black cloud and have always felt an almost palpable pressure, as if a great big ugly toad was sitting on me and preventing progress. Even if I made the best decision in any given situation, I always got a bad result. The last 5 years or so has been the worst, with deaths, illnesses and financial setbacks galore. People have noticed and commented that if I did not have bad luck I would have no luck at all.

The deacon at my church suggested I may be under a family curse. On both sides of the family, we were devout Catholics.  In fact, I am descended from quite a few saints!  In the era of the great grandparents, all of them disconnected from The Church. Many divorces, alcoholism, children abandoned, and general moral decay followed.

Now, I have this disease in both eyes which will eventually blind me, and I think, "What's next? Locusts?"  There is a sweatshirt in the "Signals" catalog I received yesterday. It is black and has white lettering that says, "Oh, what FRESH HELL is this?" I don't usually buy t-shirts or sweatshirts with sayings on them, but I almost can't resist this one.

When I finish complaining about this latest news and I have adjusted myself, I plan to concentrate on getting a few things done before the sight gets worse. I need to work on memorizing a few things for which I currently rely on the written word. If I can, I need to memorize the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary or, in the alternative, make some CDs for myself, which necessitates learning how to do that particular thing. I would also like to memorize all the meditations and the days on which they belong on the rosary.

Of particular importance to me is some serious Bible study. I just received a free course in the mail today. It is a small book, so I don't how thorough it is, but I will start with this one and move on. I would also like to memorize some favorite Bible passages.

There are MANY books I want to read, most especially the fathers and mothers of the church. There is a very large, complete set on Amazon which is about $400. It is on my wish list. I will be asking a Catholic friend if they would be willing to get it for me.

Painting is liable to become more and more difficult for me. I would like to get some paintings finished, particularly those of the saints from whom I descend, and some patron saints for a few friends of mine.

I have a 75,000 person genealogy database and have a long list of corrections and additions to make to it, but this is not something at the top of my priority list and I may eliminate it entirely. I have a cousin who is interested in genealogy. I may just give her editorial capacity on it so that she can take it up and keep it going.

I do not know how much work I will put into this blog. I will meditate on it and decide later.

Most important is getting myself moved into a more suitable housing situation. This has been on the menu for several years because I am far away from shopping and friends, and the apartment management is almost hostile toward disabled people. This particular task is somewhat daunting, and I could use some prayers with regard to this.

I do not really want to remain in Albuquerque, for many many reasons. The climate is not good for me, particularly for my eyes, as I have allergic conjunctivitis because of the dryness and wind, in addition to the macular degeneration. I don't care for the culture, and there are not many services for the poor and disabled. I DO, however, have a few friends here that I dearly love.

I need heavenly guidance on WHERE to go, whether to stay in this town or try to relocate to Oregon, where I have wanted to live for some time. I would go back to Northern California, except that the expense is way beyond me. I do have a lot of long-time friends and distant but lovely relatives who live in California, however, which is a big bonus.

I need help with all of this, and I would dearly appreciate all the prayers that you can send my way so that I am given the wisdom to make the right choices. Please ask for the intercession of the saints that I may be receptive to the guidance that the Lord sends me. Thanks so much.

God bless us all,

Silver Rose Parnell

MEDITATION ON GOD'S TIMELESSNESS AND THE EUCHARIST

I once read that the definition of time is "the measurement of the movement of particles through space."  We measure the earth's rotation around the sun to arrive at our concepts of days, weeks, months, years, minutes, seconds, etc.

God, however, is timeless.  We know this instinctively, and logic confirms it. God, the creator of all things, the originator of our time, is omnipotent, omnipresent, and is not confined by the time in which we live.  He cannot be defined or limited to the powers of the planets as we are.  Even for us, time is not absolute.  Einstein demonstrated this for us in his theory of relativity.  Time is, in a simplistic sense, a function of where you are in the universe.  You can't pin down God.  He is everywhere and nowhere.

If you haven't read Einstein's Theory of Relativity in its entirety, by the way, I recommend slogging through it.  I once had a small book that contained it and made the mistake of lending it.  I will have to get another to read it again.  My mind couldn't contain all of it, but I found it spiritually enlightening.

One day, while meditating on the timelessness of God, I realized that the moment the priest confects the Eucharist is the moment when God, in his timelessness, intersects the time of our world.  This is what is meant when we are told that we are participating in the sacrifice of Jesus and not recreating the sacrifice that we feel was completed "a long time ago."  We are not crucifying Jesus over and over again.  We are participating in the one and only sacrifice of Jesus.  It is hard for most of us to grasp this because we are limited by time and our minds are ordered in a linear fashion because of that immersion in time.

The incredible meeting of the timelessness of God with the time-bound souls on earth which IS the confection of the Eucharist is not some magical hocus pocus that anyone could do if they only had the right words and performed the right movements.  It isn't witchcraft or a skill that one can develop.  If anyone other than a validly ordained priest in the line of apostolic succession  were to imitate every action that was performed during the sacrifice of the mass, the body and blood of Christ would not be present.  Why?

The power to confect the Eucharist is transmitted to a priest through the apostolic succession that extends back to Jesus himself.  Jesus created the church and gave authority and power to the apostles.  He created the hierarchy by naming Simon Cephas, "the rock", which was later translated to "Peter," and saying that on that rock he would build his church.  It is interesting to note that Cephas was not a proper name until Jesus gave it to him, so his moniker would be quite striking during his lifetime.  This word, the logos, Chephas' name, was meant to convey Jesus' intention that he would be the head of the church by being its foundation.  On him, Jesus' church would be built and even the gates of  hell could not stand against it.

When Jesus appeared to the apostles after His resurrection, he first said, "Peace be with you," then identified himself by showing them the wounds in his hand and his side.  Then he said, "Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so I send you."  His church was already formed, with the 12 disciples, one of whom was named as the leader, the foundation of the church.  The teachings had already been given to them, but something else was needed.  They had to "graduate" in a sense and carry Jesus' teachings out into the world, so he sent them out as the Father had sent Him out.  This sending of the Apostles into the world was Jesus' confirmation of their authority and a continuation of the mercy of the Lord in sending Jesus among us to begin with.

Then, Jesus breathed on them and said, "receive the Holy Spirit."  So, they had first, their marching orders; second, their bona fides; and third, a new life in the Holy Spirit.  In addition, Jesus told them, "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."  In those days, it was clearly understood that only God could forgive sins, yet Jesus had transmitted this capacity to the apostles.  The apostles were to stand, teach and speak "in persona Christi," on behalf of Christ.

The Catholic Church has an unbroken line of spiritual transmission from the time Jesus breathed upon the Apostles until today.  The power and authority that was given to the apostles is the same power and authority that is transmitted to a Catholic priest when he becomes ordained.  In our minds, the power has come "full circle," returning to the altar to confect the Eucharist, but in reality that power is the exact same power transmitted to the apostles.  It is not some old, dusty memory of something that happened once, a long time ago.

When I attend the Divine Liturgy, I often remind myself that nowhere else can I receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.

If I think about the timelessness of the Lord at the moment the Eucharist is confected, I picture the congregation rising up to meet the Holy One while he comes down to meet us.  The angels and saints glory in that moment, and there is music and singing like nothing we have ever heard, I am sure.  When I am paying proper attention, I am more than a little moved and in awe.  I try to hold onto that mystery in my mind while it is occurring and leave my heart completely open to the limitless Lord with whom we are making the most extraordinary contact.

Jesus himself ordained this miraculous contact between us, this stunning experience of unity and salvation.  He said, "Whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood has no life within himself."  Some people think we are just eating crackers and drinking wine.

Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory to Him forever.

Silver Rose Parnell