Weep Before Your Father in Heaven

This is from A Song For Nagasaki by Paul Glynn, S.M. Takashi Nagaii is writing to his two young children:

"My death will leave you orphans, vulnerable and alone in the world. You will weep. Yes, you might even weep your hearts out, and that will be good--provided you weep before your father in heaven. We have it on the authority of his Son, and I have experienced the truth of it personally: 'Happy are those who weep, for they shall be comforted.' Spill your tears before him, and he will always dry them."

Dr. Nagaii was a pioneer in Japan in the use of X-rays, a convert to Catholicism, a survivor the the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and revered in Japan as Gandhi is in India. The story is fascinating.

Wisdom from Padre Pio

I saw this on Pinterest:

You don't have to be worthy, you only have to be willing.

This quote came in an email from Loome Theological Booksellers. It is from Romano Guardini, who more often than not challenges me. The book is titled "The Last Things".

“The central position of man in Christianity confers on the Sacraments, especially on the Eucharist, a meaning wholly new. What did Christ mean when He said, ‘He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day’? (John 6:55). Why did He not say, He that attaches his spirit to My spirit, who undertakes to do My will? Because what matters is not ‘spirit,’ but the living, human-divine reality of Christ, which has its point of decision precisely in that which any spiritualizing tendency first relinquishes – namely, the body, or, in the precise language of St. John, ‘the flesh.’ Because in man it is the living whole that matters, not the soul. The point of decision is the physical act of ‘eating’ and ‘drinking,’ in contrast to any attempts at vaporizing this solid reality. The fruit of this sacred ‘eating’ and ‘drinking’ is the resurrection on the last day. Truly a ‘hard’ saying, for it involves the end and purpose of the Christian life. The doctrine of the Eucharist is guaranteed by the doctrine of the resurrection”.

I think I'll have to chew on this for a while.