Blog

Nov 8, 2014
2 min

November 8, 2014: Beautiful Bride

‘Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person…’(CCC 2337) When Jesus first looked upon His Samaritan ‘bride’, He saw a disintegrated woman, both sexually and spiritually. She was neither united in her worship of the true and living God, nor was she chaste. Many gods and lovers had fractured her integrity as a person. Jesus saw her as she was but also what she could be. His gift of living water promised to quench her deepest thirst, to dissolve fals

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Andrew Comiskey

Oct 27, 2014
2 min

October 27th: Icons

‘Adam and Eve saw the glory of God in the human body…because they saw the body not just as a physical object but as a transparent sign of the whole mystery of the other as “person” made in the divine image.’ Christopher West Every human being is a window to the divine. Creatures testify to their Creator. I behold in my wife an embodiment of God’s glorious ‘mother heart’—soft and strong, welcoming and fruitful; in a best friend I behold God’s generative power in bodily design

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Andrew Comiskey

Oct 22, 2014
3 min

October 25: Flesh of Our Flesh

‘The bride belongs to the bridegroom.’ (Jn 3:29) We who welcome the Cross as the sign and seal of God’s unfailing love for us welcome Jesus as Lover. Calvary is the means by which He betroths Himself to us. His broken flesh is the means by which He incarnates Himself into our flesh—the whole of our humanity. Blood tore the veil of sin, water cleanses us for Him, His Spirit indwells us and makes us new. We are His, He is ours. St. Paul recognized this profoundly. He addressed

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Andrew Comiskey

Oct 18, 2014
3 min

October 19: What the State Cannot Do

‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ (Matt. 15:21) As Christians, we have a commitment to all persons; we must seek to assess and act on behalf of what is best for everyone. ‘The common good’ refers to that discernment, and sums up our responsibility as citizens in the public sphere. Here we wrestle with thankless political realities. Which candidate and/or issue best reflects who and what are best for everyone? No easy answers here and those we choose

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Andrew Comiskey

Sep 29, 2014
2 min

Hungry for God

‘The time will come when the Bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.’ (LK 5:34) In preparation for our 40 days of prayer, it is key that everyone determine what (s)he will ‘fast’ in order to make room to pray. We let go in order to take hold. In specific, we are making room for God Himself. We skip a meal or a TV show or an hour of Internet browsing in order to spend that time in real communion with the Living God. Perhaps we pray regularly already.

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Pierced for the Bride: 40-Days of Prayer

Andrew Comiskey

Sep 15, 2014
2 min

Pierced for the Bride: 40-Days of Prayer

Zechariah prophecies that God will pour out a ‘spirit of grace and supplication’ in order that we ‘might gaze upon the One we have pierced’ (Zech. 12:10). Likewise, we at Desert Stream Ministries are positioning ourselves before Christ Crucified for 40-days of prayer, from October 15th to November 23rd. Our purpose is to welcome Him afresh into our depths, that we might more nearly grasp His heart for the one He loves most, the Church, His bride. Will you prayerfully consider

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Andrew Comiskey

Sep 8, 2014
2 min

The Difference of Marriage

The two women looked and dressed alike: pleasant, middle-aged, graying hair cut simply, for the sake of ease. I discovered that they had just ‘married’ in Iowa. My first thought: how hard is it ‘to marry’ someone who mirrors yourself—the needs, hurts, and fears of your own gender and life experience? Not very: in order to be authentic, intimacy requires ‘otherness.’ The gift of one cannot be a whole gift to another if the receiver already possesses the offering. Maybe that ex

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Judge Not? (Part 3) The Merciful Kingdom

Andrew Comiskey

Aug 25, 2014
3 min

Judge Not? (Part 3) The Merciful Kingdom

It is impossible to grasp Jesus’ most famous statements on ‘not judging’ (in LK 6:37-42 and Matt. 7:1-5) without understanding Almighty Mercy. Today we face the kingdom of homosexual fatalism and the kingdom of the Pharisees; in joyful opposition to both kingdoms, Jesus opens a horizon—a whole new world—for us. Fittingly, He prefaces His reference in Luke to ‘not judging’ by referencing ‘mercy’. He said: ‘Our Father is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, as your F

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Andrew Comiskey

Aug 4, 2014
3 min

Delivered, Devoted, Declaring

‘Those forgiven of much love much.’ (LK 7:47) Amid three July gatherings of sinners desperate for Jesus—the annual Courage Conference, Hope 2014 (RHN), and the Spanish Living Waters Training in Mexico City—we celebrated the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene—bad girl made good by the delivering hand of Jesus (‘from her seven demons came out…’ LK 8:2). How fitting. Mercy alone purged her of pretty poisons, mercy alone provoked lifelong devotion to the only One worthy of it. At all th

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Andrew Comiskey

Jul 14, 2014
2 min

Fighting fire with Fire

‘For you did not receive a spirit that enslaves you to fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship, and by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’(Rom. 8: 15) Have you ever consider the truth that many persons who face intense same-gender longings are actually motivated by fear: original experiences of rejection for personal and gender inadequacy–the threat that their offering to parents or peers may be rebuffed? Fear intermingles with shame, goes underground, then resurfaces in a

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Andrew Comiskey

Jun 16, 2014
3 min

Tran-Wreck

Gleaming like an Amazon woman, he posed full-breasted in a tight dress–more woman than woman herself. In truth, this man on the cover of Time Magazine is a cartoon of a woman. Yet tragedy trumps comedy here; his artificial extremities emerge from the wound of a masculine soul that no amount of surgeries or hormones can restore. Time featured him as an icon of ‘America’s Transition’ (get it?), the brave new world of gender anarchy in which ‘men in deep V-necks and necklaces wa

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Andrew Comiskey

Apr 30, 2014
3 min

Divine Mercy

Mercy is God’s ache for His children: a stream of unfailing love flowing from His heart towards ours. Through mercy, He woos us and invites us to exchange lesser loves for a double portion of His compassion. The Greek word for mercy—‘eleos’—means ‘oil poured out’: Jesus’ life crushed like olives in order to become the antidote to our brokenness. That ‘ache’ of love is better conveyed by the Latin word for mercy–‘misericorde.’ ‘Miseri’ conveys the deep pity God feels toward us

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Andrew Comiskey

Feb 24, 2014
3 min

Friend John

How do you love someone whose self has become a defense? My friend John found it easier to present outrageous escapades than the longings of his heart. At times we wondered: are gay sex and drugs really that important to him? We needed mercy to remind ourselves that the real John was much more than both. I first met John 35 years ago, before AIDS even had a name. He then lived in West Hollywood from which he bounced to San Francisco then back, a ricochet driven by failed atte

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Andrew Comiskey

Feb 10, 2014
2 min

At Home, to Heal

‘Christians who are afraid to build bridges and prefer to build walls are Christians who are not sure of Jesus Christ. When the Church loses this apostolic courage, she becomes a stalled Church, a tidy Church, a Church without fertility, because she has lost the courage to go to the many people who are victims of idolatry, of worldliness, of weak thought…Those who do not walk in order not to err make the more serious mistake.’ Pope Francis Jesus suffered to heal us, to resto

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Andrew Comiskey

Jan 6, 2014
3 min

Amazing, Glorious

‘All who heard from the shepherds were amazed.’ (LK 2:18) ‘Being Christian is encounter with a Person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.’ Pope Emeritus Benedict Are we still amazed by Christ’s coming into our lives? Believe me, if we are not amazed than no-one else will be either. We must move beyond Christmas—the coming of Jesus—into Epiphany, the shining of His Glory upon our genuinely amazing lives. Stir it up, people. Provoke each other. Consider ho

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Andrew Comiskey

Dec 29, 2013
3 min

Treasures from Darkness

‘Everything that affected Jesus affected His mother, yet no intimate understanding existed between them. His life was hers, yet constantly escaped her.’ (Romano Guardini, The Lord) ‘Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.’ (LK 2: 19) No more powerful bond exists than between mother and child; Mary, like all mothers, is significantly defined by her child. Yet the extraordinary nature of this Child set in motion a pattern that reveals the extraordinar

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Andrew Comiskey

Dec 16, 2013
3 min

Advent 3: Offensive Jesus

‘When the John the Baptist heard in prison that of the works of Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus who asked Him: ‘Are You the one?’ Jesus said: ‘Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense in Me.’ (Matt. 11:2-5) Advent heralds the coming of God’s wild Kingdom. One cannot read the above account wit

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Andrew Comiskey

Dec 10, 2013
3 min

Advent 2: Beauty, Burning

Advent 2: Beauty, Burning ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath! Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.’ (Matt. 3: 7, 8, 11) John the Baptist’s cry against the corruption of human hearts cost him his head; the very leaders he decried killed him and so fulfill

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Andrew Comiskey

Dec 6, 2013
2 min

Desert Stream 2013 Year-End Newsletter

In ‘The Gift’ I write: ‘Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.’ (Eph. 5: 25-27) God became an infant to make us holy men and women. A baby becomes the basis for our full stature as saints! Let us marvel this season in the Child-King whose gift of divine life enables us t

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Andrew Comiskey

Dec 3, 2013
2 min

Advent 1: Waking The Ache

‘The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.’ (Rom. 13:11) ‘Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come…You must be prepared, for the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.’ (Matt. 24: 42, 44) One of my sons recently told me why he stopped smoking marijuana: ‘Pot de-motivated me. I guess I just got sick of living a “checked out” life. It was time to

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