A message of hope from the homily from today’s canonization Mass:

“…This is how distances are lessened, how one overcomes loneliness: not by closing in on himself and his regrets, not by thinking of the judgments of others, but by invoking the Lord, because the Lord hears the cry of him who is alone…”

I hope to immerse myself in the writings of Newman; my new home in Rome is a house of an Oratory. Besides this message appearing in my cursory reading of Newman, it’s simply the Christian life, expressed, yes, from our side of the experience, of loneliness, seeming disparity, even borderline despair…

The ever-resounding message from the lips of Christ, “Today you will be with me in paradise..” expresses Jesus’ desire to be united with us, here and now, in every little thing we do, we say, we think; and, even more so, His desire is to be united with all that we are. And it’s in this that we find perfection, because Christ closes that distance, infinite distance, that distance that we ourselves CANNOT traverse… Christ!

It is Jesus who does the work, and as we cry out in our anguish, in our sadness, in our confusion, we may just have to soften our voice even to a silence (for don’t worry, it’s a LOUD silence because Christ knows our hearts). And, in that silence, so is He calling, calling us to come to Him. It’s not easy. We love thinking that we can do it all. That we already have the answers. But. The only answer is Jesus…