3 Years Blogging: Remembering the Reason
Christmas is coming soon. Yes, I said it. And much as we are asked to remember “The Reason for the Season”, I am celebrating the upcoming 3-year anniversary of this blog by remembering the reason why I started this thing in the first place…
Consecration.
Three years ago, I wrote these words in my very first post: “To consecrate is to set something aside for a divine purpose. On Sunday, the Feast of Christ the King [2013] I made a personal act of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through this, I hope to become ever mindful of the presence of God and of my privilege as a child of God to reflect His divine image in the world. And this is the prayer I privately prayed then and now every day…” (To read this post, including the prayer, please click HERE.)
My life has changed since the Consecration. But, not exactly in the ways that I expected. I am busier than I have ever been, more honest and a little braver (of course, bravery and honesty go together.) Naturally, because of my disease, I am also physically weaker and much more tired (but, as this decline is part of my life, I wouldn’t exactly call it change.) This odd co-existence of strengthening in the midst of weakening can just seem like bad timing: getting my life together as my body really starts falling apart. However, as a Christian, I know it to be divine poetry – divine truth. “But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”[1]
The Cross
Oh, but how weak I am… And not just in the body. My spirit is not always willing and I have been frustrated by my lack of ability to commit to the Consecration and its basic requirements (a.k.a. tools to get me where I want to be: living in the fullness of reality.) One thing I did discover is that I was thinking about the whole Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus the wrong way around. As I wrote two and a half years ago:
“Yes, I have to stop thinking about this in terms of my gift to God. This is about God’s gift to me. What do I really have that is truly my own? I can give nothing to God. God gives everything to me. I can do nothing for God. God does everything for me… And through me. I, with the power of the Holy Spirit in me, merely use my God-given soul to acknowledge and surrender to the inevitable truth of who I am.” (For this post, click HERE.)
I will not become fulfilled because of the accomplishments that I rack up. I simply have to let God love me. I simply have to open my heart to truth, goodness, and love, and let God live through me.
Yeah, simple. But, really, profound. And only happening by God’s grace continually working in me.
You know, I don’t even say that prayer from my first post every morning anymore. Not because I don’t want to, but because… well, I guess because I don’t want to enough…? Rather than beat myself up about my laziness and forgetfulness, I changed the prayer to a song. And, now, I sing it every day. Some days, I sing it more deeply, more meaningfully, than others (just as, some days, I sing it more in tune than others) but I keep singing! You can read more about that by clicking HERE.
The Blog
Finally, I mark my blogging anniversary, which is, most importantly, my Consecration anniversary, by sharing an excerpt from the post First Friday and the Universal Treasures of the Sacred Heart. It explains why I want to be consecrated, why I live as I live and write as I write…
“God loves Creation into existence, creating human beings with the capacity to naturally and supernaturally receive divine love and to transmit, to share, this love, agape, with others. This interplay of God’s love for humankind and humankind’s loving response to God is perfect in Jesus Christ. For he is fully divine and fully human. This interplay is his interior life, the core of his being – his heart. Therefore, to delve into the Mysteries of being, of life, to delve into the Mysteries of the Divine and the human, to delve into the Mysteries of love, suffering, and joy, is to delve into the Sacred Heart of Jesus – whether we use that term and imagery or not.
“For Christ is Universal. Every human quest on earth for beauty, justice, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, or peace is a quest for Christ. In every religion, and in no religion, whether spiritually intending or not, I believe that all honest quests for truth and love are seeking what is found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And it is the Holy Spirit that inspires, guides, and guards such seeking.”
Come, Holy Spirit! Renew me in my quest!
© 2016 Christina Chase
[1] 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
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Christina Chase View All
Although crippled by disease, I'm fully alive in love. I write about the terrible beauty and sacred wonder of life, while living with physical disability and severe dependency. A revert to the Catholic faith through atheism, I'm not afraid to ask life's big questions. I explore what it means to be fully human through my weekly blog and have written a book: It's Good to Be Here, published by Sophia Institute Press.
Christina Chase 
What an inspiring post! And I love that your saying is becoming singing…
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Thank you! St. Augustine did say (or, at least, is credited with saying) that one who sings prays twice!
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I’m keeping a homepage link so I will see and think and maybe reread each day. Powerful!
P. S. One of the very helpful lines for me is the one near the end, especially its final clause about imagery and verbal expression, that starts, “Therefore to delve into the Mysteries…”
I have never been able to relate to the sacred heart concept, and the paintings always seemed gruesome. As a child I was actually frightened by them– both the picture of Jesus with his heart exposed and the one you include with the thorns and dripping blood.
So when you write,
” . . . to delve into the Mysteries of being, of life, to delve into the Mysteries of the Divine and the human, to delve into the Mysteries of love, suffering, and joy, is to delve into the Sacred Heart of Jesus– WHETHER WE USE THAT TERM AND IMAGERY OR NOT,”
I think to myself : yes, it makes sense; it’s not a heart, it’s a truth (which some people can grasp better through imagery).
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Thank you for reflecting on this with me, Albert! It does seem that imagery can sometimes get in our way, blocking us from the deeper truth. I know that Catholic imagery did that for me, much earlier in my journey. But, then, sometimes, once we have a better sense of the deeper truth, the imagery can strike us emotionally and bring to our hearts what the image represents. For me, the Sacred Heart image in this post brings about some cringing and fear – and in so doing, evokes for me the terrible beauty of sacrificial love, of life – the Mysteries of Truth.
Pax Christi
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