"Jesus, human words cannot bear the weight of Your mercy and compassion. My union with You is like being so attached that life seems impossible without You. Detached from You during my days of sour wine and withered roses was (is) a shadow life. I have no sense of myself apart form You. My bones say thank You for this now moment. Amen"
This is from Brennan Manning's "The Furious Longing of God". I love when I read something that says what my own heart and soul feel but cannot express. During this rather dark, empty time I have wondered if the homesickness I feel for God's presence in me; the feeling so unattached to my faith; was somehow more of the memory of a dream than reality. Manning so well expresses this feeling for me. "Sour wine and withered roses" assures me that what I long for is real, it has been. And, it is my bones, that which holds my very self together, which recognizes those brief moments where the beloved passes by, maybe quickly, but close enough to feel the touch.
