Holy Restlessness
April 22, 2025
And secondly, Our Resurrected Lord has finally willed to take to Himself His Sweet Vicar on Earth, Pope Francis. We attended Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord and received the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the Holy Father, Pope Francis, after which he waved with both hands bye bye and then went down around the square to greet the people who have waited for him to do so as announced. He blessed children, kissed them along the way. The Resurrected Lord has been generous with his children to have given Pope Francis the time to be with all of us on the same day He resurrected. What a blessing of love, mercy and joy! Without any doubt God loves each one of us. He has risen as He said. He confirms and assures that He is our faith, hope and love.
Meantime,
we continue praying for eternal rest of Pope Francis and perpetual light to
shine on him. May he rest in peace. We praise
the Lord for He is good.
Prayer
for the Pope
O
God, faithful rewarder of souls, grant that your departed servant, Pope
Francis, whom you made successor of Peter and shepherd of your Church, may
happily enjoy for ever in your presence in heaven the mysteries of your grace
and compassion, which he faithfully ministered on earth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who
lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (The Roman Missal,
Prayers for the Dead – For a Pope).
We also
continue praying for God’s next chosen Sweet Vicar on earth. We put all our trust in the Resurrected Lord. Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will
come again.
Following is the conclusion of the chapter on our divine longing for communion (From Broken Gods, Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart, Gregory K. Popcak, Ph. D. Ch 10).
Chastity and Divinization
Chastity facilitates divinization by reminding us that we can meet only so much of our divine longing for communion through our relationships with others. As I mentioned earlier, no matter how close you get to the person you are closest to, there will always be a longing for more closeness still. This can lead some people to despair and others to become needy as they constantly demand more than the other would be capable of giving in any universe.
Chastity prevents this by reminding us that our relationship with God is the ultimate communion, and that we can never be completely at peace unless or until we have achieved union with him. Our relationship with God doesn’t take anything away from our earthly relationships. It simply helps us to have realistic expectations for what our earthly relationships can and can’t do for us. With chastity, we make sure we save the God-shaped hole in our heart for God.
Satisfying Your Divine Longing for
Communion: An Exercise
Pray
Lord Jesus Christ,
Help me to fulfill my longing for communion. My deep desire to know and be known by another, and, ultimately to know and be known intimately by you, Lord. So often I am tempted to settle for the illusion of communion in my life. Show me the path to authentic connection. When I am tempted to lust, remind me what I am truly longing for, and give me the courage to reach out to make a genuine connection with those around me. Give me chastity that I might be capable of being fully loving and fully loved in every part of my life.
COAL: Fuel for Change
As you reflect on the insights in this chapter, take a moment to consider how COAL can help fuel the changes you would like to make to satisfy your divine longing for communion.
CURIOSITY AND OPENNESS
Ask yourself: Where did I learn to view other people as a means of satisfying my need for pleasure?
Who taught me this response?
At situations impressed this lesson on me?
Do I want to continue to allow these experiences to rule my life?
Do not judge or edit yourself. Receive your answers in a spirit of openness and grace.
Say, “These are the experiences that have shaped my struggle to satisfy my divine longing for communion. I accept God’s call to change and grow.”
LOVE
Loving myself means working to become the person God wants me to be. I know that I can fulfill my deepest longing for communion only by being chaste—that is, by learning how to be as fully loving as is appropriate based upon both the nature of my relationship and the circumstances I am in.
What specific things do I believe tend to trigger my desire to use another person as an object of pleasure or satisfaction? What could I do to become more aware of these triggers? What could I do to neutralize these triggers?
What obstacles would I have to overcome to achieve this goal?
What help, resources, or support might I need to overcome these obstacles?
Say, “I will love myself and accept God’s love for me by choosing this path of chastity over the
temptation to treat others as a means to an end (i.e., lust).”
Review these loving resolutions each morning. Imagine a time in the coming day when you might be tempted to lust. Imagine responding instead with chastity by identifying the real source of your longing for communion and making a plan to meet it instead of indulging the temptation to lust. Ask for God’s help to remember his more loving response in those times when you are feeling tempted to think of another person as the source of pleasure or personal satisfaction.
Practicing Chastity: Action Items
Remember that chastity is about pursuing healthy connection with all the people in your life. To that end, practice asking yourself the following question throughout the day: “What can I do right now that would be an appropriate way to make a connection with someone in my life?”
Ask: “Am I as generous in my relationships as I ought to be?” Choose one relationship where it would be appropriate to give a little more of yourself. What could you do to be more loving and create closer connection with this person?
Consider: Is there someone in your life who is closer to you than they should be? What boundaries would you need to set to make this relationship healthier?
The Divine Longing for Communion: A Promise
Remember Jesus’s prayer that all might be one with one another and in him. It is God’s deepest desire to satisfy your longing for communion. If you have been tempted to lust in the past, I hope that you will be able to see that what you truly desire is heart-to-heart connection with God and the people in your life. Even if you aren’t sure how to make that happen or don’t believe it is possible, give this desire to God and ask him to teach you how to fulfill this longing for connection with others and with him.
When you stop settling for the illusion of connection, God will make room in your heart for real communion. He will fill you up to overflowing, and your joy will be full (Rom 15:13).
Let us take advantage of this Easter season to bring the above thoughts and ideas on the virtue of chastity into our quiet moments of conversation with Our Lord during the day. Let us spend time to listen well to what He tells us; certainly He will tell us more things and enlighten our hearts and minds even more.
See you in
the next post,
“May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and
laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us
together again.”
Affectionately,
Guadalupinky
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