Fr. Mike Schmitz - What is really happening at Mass?

It is normal for authentic disciples of Jesus to, through spiritual growth and increased self-awareness, become more aware of their sinfulness and brokenness. This is good and necessary in that this awareness results in humility and compels us to seek His healing. Even so, it can be destructive when not balanced against His love and tenderness towards us. Here is what St. Teresa of Avila reveals about God's perspective in the first chapter of the Interior Castle: If we consider the subject properly, sisters, we shall see that the soul of a just man is nothing else but a Paradise, wherein the Lord thereof takes His recreation. What a [beautiful] room then ought that to be, think you, in which a King so powerful, so wise, so pure, so full of every perfection, delights Himself? I know of nothing to which I can compare the great beauty of a soul, and its wonderful capacity. " Here's another perspective in song...   Image - Pond5

St. John of the Cross reveals that to draw more deeply to union with God, we must leave any pursuit of experience behind - we must not trust or seek sensual experience or we will find ourselves on the path of fools. By God's grace, he also reveals the way to a deeper knowing beyond the senses. This reflection provided by Dan Burke is part of a series on St. John of the Cross' Spiritual Canticle. You can listen to more by becoming a member of this site and then joining the Reflections from the Heart of the Charism group.   Photo by Dan Burke - St. John of the Cross - Segovia Spain - 2018