235 – the number 235 seemed to keep appearing for me. A verse of Scripture which contains these numbers is Luke 2:35, part of the Presentation narrative. “and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” When thoughts are revealed, they are brought into the light, a place where God’s healing grace may touch and heal them.
I’ve been blessed to participate in teams for several retreat ministries, especially Koinonia and our Women’s Emmaus Ministry in our parish. As a team member, I have the opportunity to share difficult moments in my life journey, and then relate how the Lord in His mercy has helped me through them. Speaking aloud about life’s personal challenges and heartaches seems to release in those who are listening the grace to recall, identify with, and often to share their own times of trial, and there’s some spiritual grace that brings healing in that sharing. The sense of isolation is defeated, as we recognize our trials are not unique unto ourselves, but are shared by others. The enemy loves secrets; when the Lord gifts us with a safe place to share our pain, and His remedy, the enemy is defeated and loses his power over us in this area. The Lord desires that we be free to love Him wholly; exposing hidden areas in our lives opens that area to His freedom for us.
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A safe place of trust is necessary for this to occur, which includes the trust in the Lord to protect us, as well as trust in the listeners to keep confidential what we are sharing. It’s never meant to be about blaming others or exposing others’ faults or sins, but rather a simple telling of our own life challenges, with the emphasis on Gods’ compassion and mercy.
So much is about exposing the lies of the enemy, which keep us frozen and imprisoned. If we are to be channels of God’s grace to others, we need to allow Him to continually clean those channels. This can be a painful process, and often involves seeing truths about ourselves that are unpleasant, and in need of reconciliation and forgiveness. The reward of walking lighter and knowing we’re becoming agents of God’s healing and grace rather than remaining stuck in darkness and defiling others is well worth whatever discomfort we experience to get there.
I’m always delighted and amazed at how often the number 235 will appear to me, bringing to mind this sequence of thoughts. “I want to walk as a child of the Light, I want to follow Jesus…” are the words of a song by Kathleen Thompson that come to mind here. “In Him there is no darkness at all… Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.” The sword that pierces Mary’s heart is a sword that purifies and cleans my own heart, and the hearts of others, that we may become children of the Light…
Lord God, thank you for the grace to share the blessings of Your grace in my life, bringing me a greater freedom to love and serve You. Give us the courage to expose the darkness we hide as we allow the sword to pierce our own hearts, that Your Light may bring freedom and blessing to others ~
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A second experience that comes to mind relates to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows. I was blessed to participate in an icon writing retreat on Chambers Island, and the icon we wrote depicted this mystery. For a whole week we were able to immerse ourselves in this image, skillfully led through the process by our teacher, Chris Thelen. Fr Tom was also participating in this retreat, and his presence to celebrate Mass for us, lead us in prayer, and join in the struggle and joy of writing an icon was another beautiful gift to all of us. The doubts we all experienced about being able to accomplish this task were replaced by amazement that we actually did it, encouraged and led step by step by Chris, and immersed in God’s grace on this holy ground. We began each session reciting the iconographer’s prayer, and were reminded to come back to it often throughout the process. At the end of the week, our icons were placed on the altar for our closing l iturgy and blessed by Fr Tom…
Iconographer’s Prayer:
“O Divine Lord of all that exists, you have illumined the Apostle and Evangelist Luke with your most Holy Spirit, thereby enabling him to represent the most Holy Mother, the one who held you in her arms and said: ‘the grace of Him who has been born of me is spread throughout the world.’ Enlighten and direct my soul, my heart, and my spirit. Guide the hands of your unworthy servant, so that I may worthily and perfectly portray your icon, that of your Holy Mother and of all the Saints, for the glory and adornment of your Holy Church. Forgive my sins and the sins of those who will venerate this icon, and who, standing devoutly before them, give homage to those they represent. Protect them from all evil and instruct them with good counsel. This we ask through the prayers of the most Holy Theotokos, the Apostle Luke, and all the Saints, now and ever, unto ages of ages.” Amen ~
Spiritual Sun Pennies 