Reigning Peacefully Between Earth and Heaven (9/15/24- 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Raised above earth and suspended from heaven, you reign peacefully as King of the Universe from the throne of your cross.  There at the crossing of earth and heaven your divinity comingles with humanity to lift us up with you.  O wonder of wonders, you fill us with the bread of your holy presence at the zenith of the day (or week).  Then you invite us to abide in you as you abide in us.  

This mystery unfolds throughout the day in many ways, especially in your Chapel of Peace.   There we can bask in the rays of your merciful love.  We can bring to you our thirsty hearts, begging for a drink of your love.  We can kneel, stand, sit or lie prostrate, trying to abide in you.  Sometimes we hear or feel your presence; sometimes our patience descends into drowsiness, and we surrender to your peace.  Sometimes, the rays of your vibrant love seem to linger behind clouds of doubt and distraction.  Nevertheless, we trust that your grace is still passing invisibly through the clouds and transforming our hearts to be more like yours. 

You give yourself twenty-four hours a day from your throne of the cross.  And we come to drink of your loving presence.  And if we linger there faithfully, with Our Mother of Sorrows, we can hear a vulnerable truth spilling from your Sacred Heart: “I thirst.”  For what do you thirst?  Can it be that you, the eternal Son of God and King of the Universe, thirst for us!?   For our love!? 

“That’s why I came, my beloved.  My thirst for your love drew me down from heaven, to woo you.  Oh, love me in the beauty of nature.  Love me in my Word.  Love me in your neighbors and your enemies.  Love me in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  And love me in my intimate Chapel of Peace.  I thirst for your love.”

Dear Jesus, purify our love for you; and make it fruitful.