Blog

Andrew Comiskey

Oct 26, 2015
2 min

Wounds and Walls

As we continue our 40-days of prayer for loved ones, we bump up against some thick walls, or defenses, that surround their sexually immoral decisions. We wonder why: (s)he is not by nature a defensive person. How did this fence get electrified? It may be helpful to remember that preceding immoral choices are significant wounds of which we are not aware. Sexually brokenness usually results from a series of disempowering messages and experiences in childhood that a sensitive so

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Risen with Christ, Our Wounds yet Visible

Andrew Comiskey

May 19, 2012
2 min

Risen with Christ, Our Wounds yet Visible

Jesus’ humiliation has been eclipsed with glory. So is ours, as we testify of how His mercy has washed us and solidified the new creation. Over lunch the other day, a friend recounted his healing story. To do so, he began with his shame, which was founded upon a history of early childhood sexual abuse. Staggering into young adulthood with same-sex attraction, he sought the help of two pastors who abused him sexually and spiritually. He vowed to trust no-one. Yet he knew Jesus

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Andrew Comiskey

May 2, 2012
2 min

No Doubt

Thank God for Easter. Thank God for the season of Easter that spans far beyond its six weeks in the Church calendar; Jesus’ resurrection reminds us daily that He has trumped our old nature and activates us afresh to resume our pilgrimage. Following the Risen Christ is always a path toward maturity, with clear markers for our sexual and relational humanity. United with Him, we ascend slowly towards a horizon of boundless light. Each morning I rejoice in these words I share wit

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Andrew Comiskey

Apr 8, 2012
4 min

Intimate Authority: Easter’s Enlistment

This is the seventh and concluding post of my Holy Week Meditations for 2012. Please click here for the archive list of posts. Annette and I, as well as the staff here at Desert Stream Ministries, wish you a deeply blessed Easter. He is Risen! — Why was Mary Magdalene the first disciple Jesus entrusted with His resurrection? According to John’s Gospel, Peter and John raced to the empty tomb but could not comprehend Christ resurrected. Both John the Beloved and Peter the Rock

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Intimate Authority: Holy Week Meditations, 5

Andrew Comiskey

Apr 6, 2012
2 min

Intimate Authority: Holy Week Meditations, 5

Jesus' crucifixion. Woodcut after a drawing by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794 - 1872) This is the fifth post of my Holy Week Meditations for 2012. Please click here for the archive list of posts as they become available. — Intimate Authority: Holy Week Meditations, 5 Weeping and lingering were the earmarks of Mary’s authority. These are the signs of holy intimacy; tears of gratitude spilt while abiding in His love, and tears of grief over the loss of love

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Merciful Discipline 6: Humbled, We Shine

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 1, 2012
2 min

Perseverance and Mercy

— Perseverance and Mercy 40 Days of Mercy Devotional – Lent 2012 – Day 40 O great day, in which divine love will be confirmed in me. On that day, for the first time, I shall sing before heaven and earth the song of the Lord’s fathomless Mercy. This is my work and my mission, which the Lord has destined for me from the beginning of the world. (825) Come close to My wounds and draw from the Fountain of Life…Drink copiously from this Fountain of Life and you will not weary on y

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Merciful Discipline 4: Hopeful, We Rebuild Trust

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 20, 2012
2 min

Mercy for Beloved Enemies

— Mercy for Beloved Enemies 40 Days of Mercy Devotional – Lent 2012 – Day 28 Be always merciful, as I am merciful. Love everyone out of love for Me, even your greatest enemies, so that My Mercy may be fully reflected in Your heart. (1695) Merciful surrender to Jesus in the face of beloved enemies accomplishes holy ends. ‘The greater the suffering, the purer the love. (57) At my first defense, no-one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them

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Merciful Discipline 3: Broken, We Endure Shame

Andrew Comiskey

Mar 14, 2012
4 min

Merciful Discipline 3: Broken, We Endure Shame

Merciful Discipline 3: Broken, We Endure Shame In the Church, God has put Himself into hands that betray Him again and again. – Pope Benedict Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may Your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of Your Name; deliver us, and forgive us our sins for Your Name’s sake. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” (PS 79:8-10a) We repent on behalf of the abuse-broken chu

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

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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Merciful Discipline 1: Broken, We Pray for the Abused

Andrew Comiskey

Feb 28, 2012
4 min

Merciful Discipline 1: Broken, We Pray for the Abused

— Merciful Discipline 1: Broken, We Pray for the Abused No wound runs deeper in the Church today than the sexual abuse of children by her priests. Over the last 30 years, the wound has become apparent as brave, broken souls throughout the world have dared to confess the perversion deposited in them by priests. We the Church bear this wound. We are the broken: bewildered, angry, more tempted to strike the Church than to heal her. And yet we are ‘her’, the wounded bride, as nee

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Andrew Comiskey

Feb 28, 2012
1 min

False Mercy

— False Mercy 40 Days of Mercy Devotional – Lent 2012 – Day 7 The great sins of the world are superficial wounds on My Heart, but the sins of a chosen soul pierce My Heart through and through… (1702) Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness… (Isaiah 5:20-21) Father, grant us clarity as to what pleases You and what does not. Thank you for the clear witness of Scripture and the Church. Help us to discern ‘blind guides’; mo

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Andrew Comiskey

Jan 3, 2012
2 min

The Kingdom Among Us

Does Luke 17:25 reduce His Kingdom, that swirl of holy creativity in which the blind receive sight, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the mute shout for joy, to the kingdom of self? Then I read that the Greek word for ‘within’ can be translated ‘among’. A light dawned: the ‘Kingdom is among us’ points to the whole Body of Christ in which each must bring his/her gift and offer it to others. In other words, the Kingdom is not mostly an interior gift that we contain and brood ov

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Andrew Comiskey

Dec 20, 2011
2 min

New Birth and Battle

‘Now burn, new born to the world!’ – Gerard Manley Hopkins I recall one December when two warring nations agreed to a cease-fire. In light of the Prince of Peace, they agreed to a temporary peace, only to resume the battle a day later. Like you, I will awake on Dec. 26th to the sounds of air-raids and bombs dropping. I will not linger in misty dreams of an eternal cease-fire; I must face the battle. I derive courage from Bonhoeffer who warned his ‘army’ opposing Hitler to not

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Andrew Comiskey

Nov 23, 2011
3 min

Perseverance and Mercy

— Perseverance and Mercy ‘O great day, in which divine love will be confirmed in me. On that day, for the first time, I shall sing before heaven and earth the song of the Lord’s fathomless Mercy. This is my work and my mission, which the Lord has destined for me from the beginning of the world.’ (825) St. Faustina knew well the goal of Mercy: to end well, dying unto Life, and to ensure in one’s lifetime that as many souls as possible die in that merciful state. During her bri

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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 11, 2011
3 min

Mercy for Beloved Enemies

— Mercy for Beloved Enemies ‘Be always merciful, as I am merciful. Love everyone out of love for Me, even your greatest enemies, so that My Mercy may be fully reflected in Your heart.’ (1695) St. Faustina recorded those words as she listened to God. She was distressed, as a fellow sister in her religious order was spreading lies about her. Housemates’ cool and suspicious response to Faustina alerted her to such gossip. She listened to God, sought His Mercy in order to forgive

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Andrew Comiskey

Nov 10, 2011
3 min

Meekness and Mercy

— Meekness and Mercy ‘You shall conquer by meekness.’ (1597) Meekness is about having power and choosing not to use it. For Love’s sake. From Love’s power. The soul that is genuinely meek is founded on the God of the Universe who stooped down in Mercy to make him/her great. Meekness arises out of humility. The meek soul must first be a humble one, living in moment-by-moment dependence upon Mercy. At once miserable and mighty, the meek soul courageously accepts the call to rep

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Andrew Comiskey

Nov 8, 2011
3 min

Misery and Mercy

— Misery and Mercy ‘The more miserable my soul, the more I feel the ocean of God’s mercy engulfing me and giving me greater strength and power.’ (255) St. Faustina was a weak woman with a mighty calling. She learned early on to entrust her afflictions to the God of Mercy. This is our key as well. Any being-healed one who seeks to restore others must acknowledge profound weakness in order to access the Mercy that is deeper still. We live first from the fount of Life: Christ Je

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