An hors-d'oeure for,  Thursday !!!!!!

                                                  " When love awakens in your life, in the night of your heart, it is like the dawn breaking within you. Where before there was anonymity, now there is intimacy; where before there was fear, now there is courage; where before there was awkwardness, now there is a rhythm of grace and gracefulness; where before you used to be rugged,  now you elegant and in rhythm with your self. When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebirth, anew beginning."  (Anam Cara  by John O"Donoghue)

 You are invited to chew, masticate on that VERY SLOWLY in preparation, for what? The main course, takes some time, before it is served. The desert makes one very hungry, so here,  compulsivity is out, patience is the operative word. The main course is being worked on. This is very scary as I am heading for uncharted territory, as far as my journey is concerned. " I believe, Gracious Guide, help my disbelief.GPJ.

A Monday tidbit for the desert adventure. We never allow Hope, to be a stranger to us. 

     " I must now have faith in this love that touches me so deeply as to transcend me, leavening me as it were,   hanging in midair unable to find any footing  except in the unseen love that keeps drawing me beyond myself into a union with a God I cannot understand." "The  Awakening Call " James Finley.

 The Good Shepherd of the desert speaks of why he came, why he was sent: "I have come, that you may have life, and have it to the fullest". It stands to reason that if The Historical Rabbi Jesus came that we have life, then that same person has to  have life, within Himself. Lucky for us He is not selfish. He is, however, the essence of generosity. As one of The Trinity, Jesus, Lord, along with the Father and Spirit are in one continuous act of giving, of creating. As spiritual beings immersed in the human, it is our dignity to be welcome as fellow co-creators of the magnificent cosmos. A reality that is in continuous understanding of the mystery being worked out in our understanding of history. The " life" to be imparted is The Son's Life, as well as the life of the Father, and Holy Spirit. There is NEVER only one. When we encounter One, we are always in relationship with The Trinity.

   The life of Him we have come to address as Christ is the life continuously in our depths. From the moment of or creation in eternity that life is what gives us life. Never forget you are eternal, in origin and destiny. We need an ever deepening insight into that is this life we have been created with. What happened on The Mount of Transfiguration, was not only for the three amigos, Peter, James, and John but is intended for each one of us who are the contemporary three amigos. The chosen three, saw the life that was deep within, He Who came as THE giver of  all life. The Divinity broke through the chains of the human condition to be free in Its revelation, in this present moment to you and I. Yes ! there is never a moment that the Light revealed on The Mountain is  not now waiting within each of our depths to be revealed to a thirsting, broken, sightless, bigoted, alienated, etc. humanity. We  must reject the accepted heretical vision that we are only what we see.

                 During our Lenten Deserted journey we pray that we may grasp fully the lie we are expected to believe. We are not sheep, to be led by what is accepted wisdom, which so often hides denies the The Real Truth. Scott Peck had that book, "The People of the lie". As long as we all believe the same lie, then it must be the truth. We spend our whole lives, if we are unlucky enough, searching for The Truth. A Truth that came hidden within the human journey of Truth Itself, The Carpenter of Bethlehem. 

     Did you get a shock when you saw that word 'UNLUCKY"? Just as The Original Truth Revealer was crucified for He lived and taught, we too must respect crucifixion for our lives lived in our best imitation He who came as The Truth. He came to confront the lie, and the lie speakers. The Father of Lies, The Devil (the divider) hounds us will all sort of incentives to life the accepted lie, rather than follow the rocky road that leads to our continuous encounter with crucifixion and death.

 Paschal Death is never the end, it is ALWAYS the beginning. As it was Jesus, Who became The Christ, through His encounter with death, so it is with us. We are called to "trudge the rocky road that always leads to death and new life."' With each of our crucifixions we allow The Life of The Risen one, to break through our humanity to reveal the truth the universe is waiting for. We need our lenses to be constantly refocused, cleansed of the garbage picked up from the journey. 

   The Power of The Resurrection transforms all of our garbage into treasure. A treasure that is not to be stored selfishly away, but to be shared. Shared with those Whom the Giver of The Treasure will choose for us to encounter, and the one who will receive, without recompense, the gift gifted to us. Our garbage, is our treasure????? Counter cultural ??? Confronts the popular wisdom that garbage is to be hidden. The we become as sick as our secrets !!!!!! Courage is a gift to pray for, raw naked courage. Blessings, Great gramps as he deals with challenge to faith, that comes with the every moment confrontation with his own personal garbage.

   How is your desert journey ?  Is it challenging, disconcerting, uncomfortable , fear-filled, I invite you to add the challenges you are confronting you at this time. All of us are in the same boat, or should I say desert. All of us are meeting the moment to moment challenge of being; " Spiritual beings immersed in the human condition". What is bubbling up from within as the result of our destiny to be contemporary authentic living realities of The Suffering Servant, The Revelation of the unseen Divinity, the gospel writers of a contemporary gospel. Written, as were the original gospels, under the unique guidance of The Holy Spirit. The same one that worked with the human actions of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

              To carry the above thought further we are, as St.Paul writes " already citizens of Heaven, as we live upon the earth". That word live is a loaded word. Another, four letter word, to add to your acceptable vocabulary, to add balance to your ability to express yourself. Us Irish who have advanced degrees in bad language are in desperate need of acceptable four letter words. Many, many decades ago, I read the following , "we are called to live life, not merely exist". Yet there are billions of our sisters and brothers who are very lucky to be able to eke out a mere existence, while many more billions are living way beyond the lap of luxury. 

  Suffering is a mystery. Suffering is a sacrament. As we journey through the dark valley of suffering we are brought to face the stark reality of what it means to be human, limited, vulnerable,  and deficient in so many ways. We are faced with our powerlessness, and are forced to our knees to cry out " Lord, be with me for I am in trouble." As it was with the chosen people of old, so it is with you and I today. Our Gracious Mercy-full Creator "sees our afflictions, our trials, our oppression ".  In those moments, hours, days, weeks, even years The Savior sees our distress and from all our distress we are rescued. A person in trouble has to be able to surrender to the rescuer, otherwise there is no rescue. Right? 

        Got to be honest here. I can share with you the fact that I am reluctant, hesitant to accept help, until I am in the most pain. Then I have come to believe, It is then and there I am rescued from all my distress and broken-heart-then- ness. Yes, The Lord is close to the broken hearted and in each moment we are offer the grace necessary for us to exit the valley of despair and darkness into the Resurrected Light  of hope and brightness. Yes, it is true " no pain, no gain". No death, no Calvary, no Resurrection and new life. We will have CHOSEN to choose existence rather that be filled with all that is necessary "to have life and have it to the fullest ". This is what is offered in, "now is the acceptable time now is the time of Salvation.

              The Good Shepherd was "driven into the desert". Lucky for us. He awaits there to be our strength and guide. A Faith-full Good Shepherd who NEVER deserts His Lambs and sheep. We are lead to refreshing wells of life giving waters, springing up from our depths. So this is the outline of each person's Lenten Journey. It is NOT for just 6 weeks out of the 52. It is our felt experience  each of the 365 days. To be more specific now is when all of this is available to us. How do we accept the invitation, " Come back to Me with all your hearts , do not let fear keep us apart". We are told we journey through raw naked fear into an ever deepening intimacy. Let us all strive , as best we can, to embrace the stark reality, "Faith is a journey into uncertainty, not certainty." OH!. ! OH! OH! how I wish it was not so. For this in mysterious plan of The Gracious Creative Spirit. Who is always journeying through you, with you and within you.

                Is it not great, we only have to take one step at a time? There is death in the overloading the present moment. In this you go to war with the false self. A war we fight to our dying breath. Our ultimate surrender, that takes us to " new heavens and new earths." Fight the good fight and do your best to refrain from the darkness of powerlessness, which is your stepping stone to WHAT ?? Your personal honest answer." Honesty is progressive " ( As Bill sees It) Your fellow desert dweller,  wounded, wandering, and wondering........ Endlessly. 

                   First Sunday in Lent 2025. Penance is good for us. We do not like our encounters with acts of penance, but they are essential for growth on our individual and communal journeys. Our individual and communal journeys are always unique. That demands of us new lenses through which the newness is revealed to us. Usually very, very slowly., I may add. The penance I am challenging myself with, is to seek out some new material rather than rely on the old. For the last number of Lenten journeys I was depended on old  material written many years ago. It was easy, and convenient. That is what the spiritual journey is about. It challenges our comforts zones, and moves us out of them. Sometimes to quote St.Teresa of Avila, " we must be blasted out of the known, and familiar." Tough words from a saint ???? 

So this year I am going to make the effort to move beyond the patterns of the past, and strike out towards new horizons, and new understandings. As I have written our Lenten journey is our six week retreat, journey into our present understanding of our personal participation in The Paschal Mystery. It challenges to see in the here and now, the journey of Jesus so many centuries ago. As John O'Shea has written, "Jesus's story is our story today". Ready to let behind the familiar and journey into the land that lies behind and beyond the horizons. There are ONLY horizons to be met on the spiritual journey, not boundaries. We are always challenged to look for, the beyond and for the beyond the beyond. We are always having our eyes directed to what is before us, and the excitement of it"s newness. There is also fear to be encountered, as the false self who sees no value in this journey ,and will make every effort to sabotage the work at hand. As The Gracious Spirit never tires of pouring Love into us, so the Tempter, The Deceiver, The Divider never tires in his efforts to side track us, and sabotage the efforts.

                  2025 is offering us all real challenges to seek out the Paschal Mystery being forced of some of the most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers, who already have great sufferings to face and endure. It is reprehensible to accept in any way they  the piling on of bigotry, brutal anti gay, lesbian, and transgender rhetoric etc, etc,. America used to be proud to be called a Christian Country, today's explicit and covert actions sure do not measure up to what Gospel Spirituality reveals to us, and challenges us to live. 

We are told in The Gospel that " the Holy Spirit drove the Historical Jesus, The Rabbi to be, out into the desert. He had just heard the words, " This is My Beloved Son. That word, beloved, has a deep deep spiritual meaning.  We must be always ready to remind ourselves, and others of what it means to be beloved. The Beloved Son was not spared, dehumanization and alienation, As it was for the Historical Jesus, so it is for us who are the contemporary Presence of all that is revealed about Him in the gospel narratives. Being the beloved brings with it no promise of a " flower garden". On the contrary.

   As was written previously we need Psalm 103 ever before us, because of the challenge of our journey into our individual and communal deserts we will a constant well of mercy and hope from which to draw from. We are never called to an encounter with the cross and crucifixion, the we are NOT ALREADY strengthened to meet. My mothers's words have rang many times to alert me to the her wisdom, " The mills of God grind very slow, but they grind very true." Those words coupled with St. Paul's words, " We are never tested beyond our strength" have really helped the struggle in desperate times. The Rabbi Jesus went once to Calvary, but we are being exposed to all that Calvary was for Jesus, and that journey is repeated again and again. The mystery of suffering is journeyed into many, many times but why ? That is your personal question, not mine. It would be very presumptuous of me even to hazard a guess. As has been written " Ask the question, and live into the answer".

Trite answers do not fly any more. Unique answers are the answers for unique questions. Just remembered a quote of Fr. Karl Steumiller " It is only through our sufferings, CAN we have an audience with a God of faithfulness and compassion". Something to chew on ??. These are the meandering thoughts of an 85 year old who has encountered The Suffering Christ revealed behind many disguises. Love, prayers, and blessings, for a very unique encounter with The Greatest of Mysteries. Great gramps.