Andrew Comiskey

Desert Stream Ministries

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Mercy 11: Merciful Surrender

Andrew Comiskey

Nov 16, 2013
3 min

Mercy 11: Merciful Surrender

‘I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, save me!” The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, He saved me.’ (PS 116: 1-4) I am grateful f

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Housecleaning

Andrew Comiskey

Mar 7, 2013
3 min

Housecleaning

‘For we are reduced, O Lord, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.’ (Dan. 3: 37) Another pastor I know recently changed his view on homosexual practice and now believes it is compatible with the Gospel. One of his staff had repented of her lesbian past and had resolved, at no small cost, to live a chaste life. Hearing her senior associate’s new view opened doors for her. She has since met a vulnerable woman in the church with who she is now sexuall

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At Peace In War

Andrew Comiskey

Jun 6, 2012
2 min

At Peace In War

Many see the end in sight: finally, our nation is recognizing that homosexuality is a moral good—utterly normal, utterly on par with heterosexuality as solid ground for marriage and family. Utter nonsense. While praying the other day, God showed me a picture of an oil spill that was spreading out and encasing vulnerable, beautiful creatures. At first the oil had little effect on them. Then it constricted movement, and finally their breathing. I saw a powerful balm being appli

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Pentecost: Power to Live the Truth

Andrew Comiskey

May 31, 2012
2 min

Pentecost: Power to Live the Truth

Woodcut, published ca. 1880. I just read in the New York Times that Dr. Robert Spitzer, the man who documented the transformation of 200 former homosexuals like me, now claims (for no apparent reason) that we must have been lying. Who knew? Not my wife and kids… Bowing to the irrational drive of gay activists who insist that no homosexual can change (in spite of pretty good evidence to the contrary), Spitzer capitulated. Gratefully, God helps those who aspire to live the trut

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Andrew Comiskey

Apr 7, 2012
2 min

Intimate Authority: Holy Week Meditations, 6

— Intimate Authority: Holy Week Meditations, 6 Mary Magdalene wept and lingered at the Cross. The Man who had become her life died. His death rocked the earth, split the temple, and broke her heart. The tears of repentance and gratitude with which she had washed His feet became a flood of grief. She watered His nail-split feet. Apart from Him, she could do nothing. She had nothing; His life was hers. She filled the void with tears. He had founded a new life in her. Now grief

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Andrew Comiskey

Apr 3, 2012
5 min

Merciful Discipline 6: Humbled, We Shine

Merciful Discipline 6: Humbled, We Shine ‘When You disciplined us, we could barely whisper a prayer.’ (IS 26:16) ‘Christ’s abiding presence in the midst of our suffering is gradually transforming our darkness into light.’ Pope Benedict The sexual abuse crisis in the Church brings us to our knees. We do not kneel politely but painfully, a sprawl rather than a pose. On behalf of those felled by the weight of a priest’s perversion, we too stumble and fall. Behold the scandal we

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Andrew Comiskey

Apr 2, 2012
3 min

Intimate Authority: Holy Week Meditations, 1

— Intimate Authority: Holy Week Meditation, 1 Why was Mary Magdalene the first disciple Jesus entrusted with the message of His resurrection? A brief meditation on her life points to intimacy with Jesus as the basis for her unique authority. His gift to her was Mercy, a free gift that nevertheless demands a response. She surrendered all to Him; her gift to Jesus was herself. His life became hers. More than not, the Gospels describe her weeping and lingering in His Presence. T

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Andrew Comiskey

Mar 23, 2012
2 min

Urgency and Mercy

— Urgency and Mercy 40 Days of Mercy Devotional – Lent 2012 – Day 31 I have eternity for punishing sinners, and so I am prolonging the time of Mercy for the sake of sinners. But woe to them who do not recognize this time of My visitation! (1160) A strange power has been pushing me into action, not giving me a moment’s peace. A strange ardor has been lit in my heart, urging me to action and I cannot stop it. (569) What business is it of mine to judge those outside of the Chur

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Andrew Comiskey

Mar 22, 2012
2 min

Boldness and Mercy

— Boldness and Mercy 40 Days of Mercy Devotional – Lent 2012 – Day 30 If the Lord demands something of a soul, He gives it the means to carry it out; through grace, He makes it capable. At the Lord’s command, the soul can undertake things beyond its expectation if God’s power and strength, which makes the soul courageous and valiant, are manifest within it. (1090) Your assignment on earth is to beg Mercy for the whole world. (570) O Father, make Your Church glorious, rich in

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Andrew Comiskey

Mar 21, 2012
4 min

Merciful Discipline 4: Hopeful, We Rebuild Trust

Merciful Discipline 4: Hopeful, We Rebuild Trust We do not want you to grieve…as those who have no hope. (1Thes. 4:13) Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1Cor. 4:2) Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord…He will dwell in the parched places of the earth. (Jer. 17: 5, 6) One struggles to consider a more profound violation of trust than priestly abuse of chil

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Andrew Comiskey

Mar 13, 2012
1 min

Mercy’s Sacrifice

— Mercy’s Sacrifice 40 Days of Mercy Devotional – Lent 2012 – Day 21 How sad I am that souls do not recognize Love. They treat Me as a dead object. (1385) Do you despise the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? … A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread or drinks of the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:22, 28) Jesus, thank You for Your Sacrifice of Mercy. We need it now more than ever! In Your Mercy, unite our divided hearts and make us whole in one-Spi

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Andrew Comiskey

Mar 7, 2012
4 min

Merciful Discipline 2: Broken, We Repent for the Church’s Mishandling of Abuse

Merciful Discipline 2: Broken, We Repent for the Church’s Mishandling of Abuse ‘This crisis isn’t about sex abuse. It is about covering up sex abuse.’ Spokesperson for victims of priestly abuse ‘God’s justice summons us to give account of our actions and to conceal nothing.’ Pope Benedict to priests who abused children As the Church, we are united as members of one Body. When one is abused, all suffer. When abuse is covered up or mishandled by Church leaders, the abused are a

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Andrew Comiskey

Feb 20, 2012
2 min

Rousing a Captive Culture

‘How can I not?’ he reasoned, as he listed the divorces, affairs, co-habitation and children born out-of-wedlock in his family. We are inundated daily with the breakdown of holy boundaries in heterosexual relating. A new poll reveals that 61% of US singles have sex on their first date; not surprisingly, for the first time in US history, more than half of births to American women under 30 now occur outside of marriage. The devolving of heterosexual morality in our culture is t

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Andrew Comiskey

Dec 15, 2011
2 min

The Advent of Repentance

These family members are now subject to deceived, politicized loved ones whose ‘gay selves’ have turned hard and cold toward the ones they left behind. Times have changed, people. No longer are we dealing with same-sex strugglers in search of alternatives to ‘the gay self’; this generation seeks only its confirmation. Those family members who cannot in good conscience bless him as ‘gay’ or her as ‘lesbian’ are deemed unloving at best, and probably abusive. Repentance unto Mer

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Andrew Comiskey

Nov 14, 2011
3 min

Urgency and Mercy

— Urgency and Mercy ‘I have eternity for punishing sinners, and so I am prolonging the time of Mercy for the sake of sinners. But woe to them who do not recognize this time of My visitation! (1160) ‘A strange power has been pushing me into action, not giving me a moment’s peace. A strange ardor has been lit in my heart, urging me to action and I cannot stop it.’ (569) How can we not experience the disquiet of St. Faustina? We live between the ‘now’ of Mercy and the ‘not yet’

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Andrew Comiskey

Nov 13, 2011
3 min

Boldness and Mercy

— Boldness and Mercy ‘If the Lord demands something of a soul, He gives it the means to carry it out; through grace, He makes it capable. At the Lord’s command, the soul can undertake things beyond its expectation if God’s power and strength, which makes the soul courageous and valiant, are manifest within it.’ (1090) ‘Your assignment on earth is to beg Mercy for the whole world.’ (570) Jesus gave St. Faustina a bold calling: to immerse souls in the flood of God’s Mercy at Ca

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Andrew Comiskey

Nov 5, 2011
3 min

Mercy Rising (on trembling legs …)

— Mercy Rising (on trembling legs…) ‘I know that the grain of wheat must be ground between millstones in order to become food. In the same way, I must be crushed in order to be useful to the Church and to souls.’ (641) Jesus is crushed to become for us the Meal of Mercy; death precedes life, first for Christ then for Christians. Only our death is not fatal. The Risen Lord invites us to die to our props and illusions; He grants us Mercy then resurrects what in us pleases Him.

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Andrew Comiskey

Nov 4, 2011
3 min

Mercy’s Sacrifice

— Mercy’s Sacrifice ‘How sad I am that souls do not recognize Love. They treat Me as a dead object.’ (1385) St. Paul implores us to not take Communion unworthily (1Cor. 11:27), and Church fathers echo him. Those who persist in serious sin should think twice… How do we square this with the God of sinners, He who desires Mercy and not legalistic sacrifice? It all depends on the attitude toward our sin, and towards His Sacrifice. The main document on Holy Communion from Vatican

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Andrew Comiskey

Oct 27, 2011
3 min

Mercy Restores Our Inheritance

— ‘My Heart overflows with Mercy for souls, especially for poor sinners. If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them, and that it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with Mercy.’ (367) Jesus employed the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15) to convey the marvel of the Father’s Mercy. No matter how much we have squandered what is best and true about our lives, the Father restores in full our inheritance

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Andrew Comiskey

Oct 24, 2011
2 min

Mercy’s Rule

‘When the battle becomes too much for me, I throw myself like a child into the arms of the Heavenly Father and trust I will not perish…I do not lose heart. I trust God’s grace, which abounds in the worst misery.’ (606) Bad shame can trap us; the traditions of men are tricky. They may have truth on their side, but they forfeit the main rule which governs Jesus’ morality—Mercy for the sin-sick, who in turn extend Mercy out of a recognition of their own moral vulnerability. How

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