{"id":21665,"date":"2015-05-09T21:01:59","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T21:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/?p=21665"},"modified":"2015-07-06T16:04:58","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T16:04:58","slug":"no-greater-love-than-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/no-greater-love-than-this\/","title":{"rendered":"No greater love than this…"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joan Blandin Howard\r\n<\/span>\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/onlineministries.creighton.edu\/CollaborativeMinistry\/051015.html\r\n\r\nWithin a few days we will have read all of chapter 15 in John\u2019s gospel \u2013 but not verse by verse. \u00a0\u00a0Throughout the chapter, back and forth, in and out, John calls our attention to the fundamental theme of all the gospels \u2013 LOVE. \u00a0Maybe with this or that verse, I will hear Jesus\u2019s repeated invitation to fall into Love, to live in Love.\r\nTo know, taste and feel the strength of Love \u2013 all in the midst of my humanity, my life.\r\n\r\nFr. Larry Gillick, S.J. once wrote about being covered with fingerprints- God\u2019s fingerprints.\u00a0 Fingerprints are unique.\u00a0 Using proper equipment the owner of the fingerprint can be identified. Whose fingerprints are these?\u00a0 Who was here?\u00a0 Who disturbed or intruded?\u00a0\u00a0 Who ventured in to clean up the mess, to set things right? Who went through my personal possessions?\u00a0 Who rifled my heart?\u00a0 Whose fingerprints cover me?\u00a0 How would anyone know?\r\n\r\nRecently 3 of our youngest grandchildren came for a visit.\u00a0 Twin 15 month old boys and their 4 yr old sister.\u00a0 Holy, sacred, blessed chaos reigned from the moment they entered through the front door until the moment they left through the back door.\u00a0 Laughter and tears, peaceful sleep and restless sleeplessness, exuberance and exhaustion \u2013 life was especially lifey, rich and abundant in our home that week.\u00a0 A garden of earthy delights!\r\n\r\nThey left and our home was eerily silent and still, yet vibrating, smeared and sticky with their presence.\u00a0\u00a0 Children and grandchildren, left prints \u2013 theirs and God\u2019s -everywhere! Colored chalk on the driveway, mud where James finger-painted the side of the house.\u00a0 Thomas\u2019 footprints on budding plants. \u00a0Chocolate where Penelope dripped icing onto the linen cloth.\u00a0 Fingerprinted hand-blown Easter eggs drowned in dye \u2013 keepsakes now.\u00a0\u00a0 The cat\u2019s nose smudges on the breakfast room\u2019s window.\u00a0 She lived in a constant state of vulnerability as she watched their every move.\u00a0 Little \u00a0and big fingerprints on glass doors and windows, on walls and furniture \u2013 everywhere.\u00a0 The intentional ink mark on the hall closet door indicating each one\u2019s growth. How they grown!\u00a0 There is even a print of a morning dove that flew into and bounced off a kitchen window.\u00a0 No permanent damage to the bird or the window and we had our own Holy Advocate!\r\n\r\nMy favorite prints are the translucent ones on the glass backdoor.\u00a0 As the sun shines through, each fingerprint glistens and each little line vivid and vibrant.\u00a0 I see not only the print, but my heart warms to presence \u2013 theirs and God\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0 In being who they are meant to be they leave a print \u2013 on the window, in our home and in my heart.\u00a0 Each print is meaningful. I feel James\u2019 off-hand swipe, delight in Thomas\u2019 pudgy little hand reaching to hold mine, and Penelope\u2019s offering the stem-less flower bud.\u00a0 Their death-grip good-by hugs bring tears of joy. The love letter <\/em>Maggie wrote to her deceased Great- Granny fills me with deep gratitude. \u00a0All freely given and joyfully received.\u00a0 Whose fingerprints are these?\u00a0 The children\u2019s of course, but God\u2019s most definitely.\u00a0 They have Love smeared and stuck all over them.\r\n\r\nI like to think, and I pray God\u2019s fingerprints are on me and the prints I leave behind are just as noticeably God\u2019s prints.\u00a0 These children make leaving behind a trail of God\u2019s loving fingerprints seem so easy.\u00a0\u00a0 For me, leaving behind a trail of God\u2019s fingerprints is not easy, but God\u2019s prints are readily identifiable. \u00a0It is God who intrudes and rifles my heart.\u00a0 It is God who sets things right. \u00a0God dwells among us.\u00a0 God dwells in me.\u00a0 God\u2019s fingerprints are everywhere.\r\n\r\nThe Good-News:\u00a0 God\u2019s lovely fingerprints are smeared and permanently stuck to me.\u00a0 I just have to stand where the light can shine through.\r\nNo one has greater love than this\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joan Blandin Howard http:\/\/onlineministries.creighton.edu\/CollaborativeMinistry\/051015.html Within a few days weRead More<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":80,"name":"frontpage","slug":"frontpage","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":82,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":80,"category_count":3,"category_description":"","cat_name":"frontpage","category_nicename":"frontpage","category_parent":0},{"term_id":79,"name":"Posts","slug":"posts","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":81,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":27,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":79,"category_count":27,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Posts","category_nicename":"posts","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"By Joan Blandin Howard http:\/\/onlineministries.creighton.edu\/CollaborativeMinistry\/051015.html Within a few days we will have read all of chapter 15 in John\u2019s gospel \u2013 but not verse by verse. \u00a0\u00a0Throughout the chapter, back and forth, in and out, John calls our attention to the fundamental theme of all the gospels \u2013 LOVE. \u00a0Maybe with this or that verse, I will hear Jesus\u2019s repeated..","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21685,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665\/revisions\/21685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}