The Gospel of the Forty Days: Baptism, Part 3       In this third article on Christ’s command given to the Apostles to baptize, we left off last with the idea that Jesus Christ, in His glorified humanity, was now able to generate a whole new sanctified race of those who are incorporated into Him through baptism. What might Jesus have taught the Apostles during those forty days about being incorporated into Christ?       Scripture tells us quite a bit actually. The evening before Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, at the Last Supper He spoke to His Apostles about their future incorporation into Him in these words – and we are pointing out the number of ways He expresses it: [1] “You will know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you” (Jn 14:20) and [2] if anyone loves Jesus, Jesus and the Father “will come to him and make Our home with him” (Jn 14:23). Then He admonishes them to [3] “Abide in Me,” and says that they [4] cannot bear fruit “unle...

Prayer as Placing Ourselves in the Way of God's Love       In continuing with our series on prayer, this article will generously quote from the book, The Hermit , by David Torkington, and specifically from a dialogue between the narrator, who is seeking spiritual help with his rather dead spiritual life, and a man recommended to him, Peter.       Peter speaks of how a ne’er do well cousin totally changed his life when he fell in love and received deep love from a remarkable woman who became his wife. Peter says, “I was fascinated by the tremendous power of love in action. No power on earth could have done anything for my cousin. It helped me to realize that if we could somehow place ourselves in the way of God’s love, put ourselves under the influence of His creative power, then like [my cousin], we might be radically and permanently changed; not superficially, but from our innermost parts.       “When I began to rea...

A Small and Stubborn Heart: The Story of Jonah       The Biblical book of Jonah tells us the prophet Jonah's message (destruction of Nineveh if the people did not repent), but also tells us of Jonah's smallness of heart.           Jonah prophesied some time before 732 BC. Other biblical and apocryphal books (2 Kings, Tobit, and 3 Maccabees), Jesus, and Josephus, a Jewish historian of the First Century, all understood Jonah to be a historical person relating actual events.       Jesus said, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt 12:40). People tend to assume that Jonah was alive during the three days leading some to scoff and claim the book is fictional (although there is an 1896 incident where a person did survive being inside a sperm whale). However, Jonah's prayer in chapter 2 says th...

Abandonment to Divine Providence (Two)       Last week we considered a great Christian classic, “Abandonment to Divine Providence,” by Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751). In the passage below de Caussade speaks of learning to see God’s hand and His will in the everyday events of our ordinary lives, knowing that God is “speaking” to us, leading us, guiding us continually, moment by moment. Sometimes we just need to have the eyes and ears to see and hear (Mt 11:15).       “You speak, Lord, to each individual soul by the circumstances occurring at every moment of life. Instead, however, of hearing Your voice in these events, and receiving with awe what is obscure and mysterious in these Your words [i.e., the circumstances], men see in their only the outward aspect, or chance, or the caprice of others, and censure everything. They would like to add, or diminish, or reform, and to allow themselves absolute liberty to commit any exc...

Abandonment to Divine Providence (One)       We recently considered the great Christian classic, “Of The Imitation of Christ,” by Thomas À Kempis, which is available for free online and for purchase. Another wonderful Christian classic (also available online for free, and for purchase) is “Abandonment to Divine Providence” by Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751). The book is comprised of letters Fr. de Caussade wrote to French Visitation nuns in the town of Nancy, after he had been their spiritual director for about 7 years total starting in 1729.       When de Caussade uses the term “abandonment,” he means in the sense of trustful surrender to the One you love and One you know loves you totally: God. Therefore, his words are a spiritual guide for one wanting to come closer to God, to know His love more, and to share intimate communion with Him.       It is an excellent book to reach for when you are suffe...