Saturday, April 05, 2008

Man Attacked by Flowers Survives, Barely

Thursday night, Rebecca and I made a visit to our local parish church for a little adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. We both recognized that we need to do this more often; to pour out our troubles to the Lord, just as a Hannah did in the Temple so long ago. Funny how I deliberated before we made the decision to just do it. There was the Freshmen retreat to plan, grading, a plane ticket to order for next Saturday, grading, the bug in my podcast that I can't seem to fix, (but I still love you iTunes!) and there was some grading.

In the end we just went to Him, and of course, it was awesome. And that's all He wanted... for us to go, in the midst of our busyness or "tiredness" at the end of a long day; to come to Him when we are weary and heavy-burdened. And guess what... He gave us rest. For just a few minutes, we did nothing but BE with Him, and pray.

One of things I love about the Easter Season is the INSANE amount of flowers that explode into the sanctuaries of churches all over the world after the Resurrection of Christ. The world may hate us and persecute us just as Jesus predicted, but I know that, secretly, at least the florists love us. (I wonder if they intentionally look for shop space next to Catholic churches? They could survive just on lily and poinsettia sales!)

As we knelt down to unpack our hearts before the One Who knows them best, an odoriferous wave of delight poured over us. It was crazy. There were flowers under the altar, over the altar, popping out of the pulpit, pouring out of the pews, climbing up the choir loft... and all of them screaming with pistils and petals waving "Watch out world! He is RISEN!"

So we just drank it in, sniffed it up, basked in the pungent scent of New Life in the Garden of the Resurrection.... and there we prayed for Life... life to the full. We can't wait for kids. CAN'T WAIT. And it brings to mind a line from Blessed Mother Teresa: "Saying there are too many children in the world is like saying there are too many flowers."

In our hearts, as in our church this Easter season, there can never be enough flowers.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

God Bless You Both! One thing I miss by being a part of a military base Catholic Community is adoration. As always , you are both in my prayers!

Peace!
Wendy

Anonymous said...

People still want Miracles. Come down off that cross and we'll believe! You want a miracle? Sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Get within whispering distance of the Tabernacle. Look at Him. Just look at Him. The entire world stops!! Minutes stretch to hours, and hours shrink to minutes. Don't talk;He already knows. Just be there. You can't leave unchanged. But you two know that.May you be up to your knees in Grace. Da

The Heart of Things said...

Thanks Wendy, pray we take more advantage of it! Peace.

Esther said...

It is quite an art to make a post beautiful and funny at the same time! You succeed. I love "but the florists love us!" Our sanctuary is bursting with lilies, too... which means the entire church is just a wee bit heavy with scent.

On a serious note, there is nothing more peaceful than sitting before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and hearing (more like feeling) Him speak to me. First Friday is my favorite time of month.

The Heart of Things said...

Thank you Esther! I hear you about First Fridays. I love how even these weekdays are sanctified for us; Fridays for His Heart, Wednesdays are for St. Joseph, Saturdays for Mary. The Faith really comes to us through all these ordinary things (Ordinary Time).... but of course for now we are still on the Extraordinary Time of EASTER!

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