- " I'll bring my storm-tossed, torn sail story to tell...

                               " make room for the little light" Jelly Roll, at  St.Peter's Square, Vatican City, 2025.

    " The invitation, not, to the illusion of comfort, but to the vitality of faith." ( Anon)

       " The Word of God is living and effective.....Proclaim the Word, be persistent, whether convenient or      inconvenient. " 2 Timothy 3.

       Recently the words sung by Jelly Roll really struck a cord with me. I was able to connect with the words of a song. It was if "heart was speaking to heart", the essence of communication. His message has become so real, so authentic, he was able to pack St.Peter's Square, with 80,000 beings, for a concert. His greatest joy was to be able to shake the hand of Pope Leo. On reflection there is a common thread which runs through both their heartfelt, consoling, and illusion busting messages we so desperately need.

   Deep down we know of this, the voice that challenges, the injustices, the dehumanizing, the deliberate  destruction of family. Somehow there is a power that is afraid of the power of faith. Faith that is challenged with opposition in only STRENGTHENED. Never send the church underground. There it is strengthened beyond human understanding. History has proven this repeatedly. So then, we must not allow  the death dealing voice of complacency, power of fear deaden, if not annihilate the message that aches for revelation and attention. Then like Jelly Roll, we will all have a storm tossed, torn sail story to tell. 

  Jelly Roll and Pope Leo are both fulfilling the exhortation contained in the The Second Scripture of todays' Liturgy of the Word: " Be persistent whether convenient or inconvenient". The message that challenges our, collective and individual comfort zones is not, just  a soul challenging, Gospel message. It is a message that eventually demands a radical annihilation of all the false self,  demands of us. Conversion, will push us onto the rugged uncomfortable trail, rugged path of,  living the radical truths of the essential gospel. We are to be immersed, into, the reality of the gut challenging message, of The Social Gospel. Each one is responsible for the active response to the promptings of The Creative Spirit.  These are frightening,  repulsive words to the ears of some. Your heart felt response, rekindles the fire of The Holy always Creative and creating, Spirit. When that happens we are in very dangerous territory. " Be not afraid, I go before you". I am your guardian, shepherd, who never goes to sleep. I am Emmanuel !!!!

   Power-full, vivifying, and energizing  Words of The Historical Jesus, now dwelling as, The Risen Christ, The Cosmic Christ Presence  is now illuminating deepest darkest depths  of our being.  We must vigilant less we enter,  be led into, the "blind alley", that is the result  of our reliance on self-will." Self will avails us nothing", the truth contained, really hidden, in those five words takes a lifetime of existential mining. This is why the illusion I had, in my self created, illusion of sufficiency  has to be surrendered to and smashed slowly by the acceptance of, radical truth. " Of myself, I can do nothing, but I can do all things in Him that strengthens me". " Even though I walk in the dark valley, I will not fear". As we journey deeper into the unknown, we are slowly and gently becoming aware of our connectedness, and immersion into  The Mystery, The Divine Secret.

        "Of myself I can do nothing" that will contribute to my eternal vocation," as a co-creator, and a co-perfector" of the universe" (Vatican Two)   "We will do our, and God will do the rest", is the acceptance of a sacred responsibility. All work is sacred. All work is sacramental. There is nothing more real that the efforts of a sweat-drenched person. That "sweat', can be the result of many, many various and varied acts  of creative ,sacrificial, endeavors. Our contribution to the cosmic consciousness, will demand we live out The Paschal Mystery in some way. We can look, reflect on the present reality, and challenge ourselves where we encounter , The Cosmic Christ, in the here and now. So ???

        Our self created  illusion,  are illusions  that will be revealed, will be slowly shattered. Our ego busting journey into the comfort and security of a lively faith will replicated the journey of The Historical Jesus. This "lively faith' will keep us grounded in this consoling reality, all that we are doing that is healthy, is our continuing mysterious  dark journey, into Mystery. There, there is, our home. Our place of security, and safety. A refuge where we are empowered to welcome, and be the contemporary, The Good Samaritan. Illusions smashed is not only a death, but the participation in The Resurrection, as understood in contemporary spirituality.

           Each one of us is called to make both an individual, and collective, social to the challenge of The Radical Gospel. This will trigger radical change. May The Gracious, Creative Spirit gladden your hearts, so you may encounter a joy, not happiness, in every sacramental, now moment of your journey into The Cosmic Christ, and cosmic consciousness.     Slainte. We all need this, for this journey. Great great gramps. 

   " Together we suffer, together we exist, forever we will recreate one another ." de Chardin 

     " The Word, of the Lord, is, not chained"  2Tim.

       " Come, Holy Spirit, come and strengthen the fear-full heart of this faithless one." (jih)

        " Sing to the Lord, a new song for he has, (and is. jh) doing wondrous deeds ."  PS 98.

   I love to hear again, and again the songs of the 50s, 60s, and some of the 70s. I guess that is called, being nostalgic. That is well, and good, but that keeps us in the past. The words of the song that we are called to sing are not for the past, and never will be for the past. The past does not exist, only as the reality  we bestow on it. The song we are to sing is  to be, an honest, truth-full outward expression of our inward reality. Complacency, can and does rear it's ugly head, voice, as it encourages us to settle for what was, the non-threatening, non challenging,  comfortable familiar prayers of  yesterday. Having no connection with the existential, the here and now. 

 I have had to learn, unfortunately the hard way, My Gracious Prodigal Father, is only present in this now moment. In this now moment all that I need, not want, is being gifted to me. Prayer life from me, has to be grounded in, honesty. I am  becoming acquainted, gradually getting to know the gifts that come from, "reckless honesty". The leper in me, intuitively knows the only true, real song I am given to sing, originates, bubbles up, from the depths of a beaten and battered  heart.  The WORDS USED, will not words we use in polite conversation. In his book, "Mystical Theology" William Johnson teaches that the Dark Night will result, in, rebellion. Yes, raw naked rebellion. That rebellion will have to be given reality, otherwise we will be plunged into the state of helplessness, and powerlessness.

    As we listen to, the gospel story, of the  recovering raging alcoholic, drug addict, we hear it was from the depths of their diseased being, helplessness, and powerlessness  a prayer was given. This prayer was  to involves a large number of curse words. Yes! cursing God. The result of their brutal honesty, the  priceless gifts of recovery, "sobriety, sanity and serenity", were freely bestowed on these present day, mystics. Who are these present day mystics, they are our sisters, and brothers, who speak a different language. It is the language of awakening ,and entrance into real, freedom.  It is directed as a gift that is being offered ,our  present day  addicted society.  Like all addicts, our first reaction, is denial

Honesty, demands we challenge society of its, denial of its , addictions. Dare we challenge the addictions, yes , we must.  There is no other option, if we desire to have a real, life giving and life sustaining presence. In this uncluttered reality, presence, Presence, and Real Reality becomes awakened. " The Glory of God, is, the human person, fully alive."( St.Irenaeus. ) The Word of The Lord cannot be chained. Even if it, lies in chains, those chains will be broken. This "breaking" will happen, through the emerging, real truth, honesty,  and open-mindedness. These will then have become the norm for an awakened, recovered, sober-minded  society. In this society we will all be judged, if judged, by the " content of our character", alone.

     Look up the definition, description of, mystic. This little action will have a lasting effect on how you see, view those who accompany us on the slog, we call life. What will each one of have to do so we will be able to call our reality, real living. Freedom comes to us and our cosmos, at a great price. Rereading the above quote , from de Chardin ,we are comforted with this reality. We are never alone. We are intimately connected. Otherwise, how do we dare to say, "We are, The Body of Christ". It is through our honest being, and becoming, The Cosmic Christ, becomes a living, owned reality. 

                  " Dig, beneath the surface of,  life"..... Pope Leo, X1V.

        " The capacity to learn...Is a gift.     The ability to learn....Is a skill. 

            The willingness, to learn...... Is a,......CHOICE." (Anonymous" 

           " Come Holy Spirit and humanize, the hardened heart, of this complacent one"

     The prophet Amos, " Woe, to the complacent....they are not made ill, by the collapse of Joseph "

  The Prophet for our time, Pope Leo, is encouraging us,  "to dig the beneath the surface of life", to my present understanding, this means to, GO Deep, and be open to the revelations that will come from, soul work.  Honest, soul work, is an never ending process that we human beings are called, destined to participate in, as a life long challenge.  Souls work sinks roots, for a healthy growth of the trunk, branches, leaves and fruit. No roots, no fruits. The more we respond to this challenge, the deeper we will go. The journey into the depths results in us gradually discovery of a well.  From this well is springing all the nourishment, grace, we are in need of to make an, authentic,  human journey.The more we drink from this well the more we will be in touch with our unique, sparkling,  vivifying, true selves. This nourishes the spirit within,  so we can join The Dove, in spiritual flight. WOW !!! WOW !!!!

 Our ongoing, soul work, gradually reveals the, moment to moment battle, between, the true  self, which is The Gracious creation, and the false self which is our creation. The false self is created so we are able to endure, survive in a, dysfunctional world.  The false self, whose sole occupation is the possession of endless sources of " power, property, and prestige." (Rohr) We make, "power, property, and prestige" (Rohr), the barometer, the gauge for the judging , our intrinsic value and worthwhileness. Now we are going to add to these  real life destructive addictions, " control, comparisons, and contradictions, and we find ourselves in real life choking, life destructing, doodoo . 

How do we break free of these life destruction forces ? Sad to say there is no way into the freedom of the true self, except for, a real life reclaiming, conversion. I am really sad, really sad, to share with you   conversion only happens, at least to my present understanding (2025), trough these contradictory  statements, " Discover the powerlessness of, power, and the power, of, powerlessness"( Rohr) This power is the result of our Paschal Journey, being repeated and repeated. The Historical Rabbi Jesus, endured His Calvary experience just once. We make the journey through suffering, death, tomb time, Resurrection resulting in the experience of a new way of acting and a new way of thinking.

  This reminds me of this old  adage, " we cannot think our way into, a new way of acting, we have to act our way into, a new way of thinking." To be brutally honest, I wish I never was exposed to this life changing, life enhancing challenging reality. My false self, wanted,  no constantly demanded an easier softer way. That ended in my experience of deep alienation, isolation and life destructive practices, which lead to Joe  believing the lie of the false self,  this is really living. Living a common lie, not in The Truth.

       No, Joe now says , that  experience of Joe slowly realizing that he was dying, because of his life destructive addictions, and compulsions.  Through grace, I was blasted out of complacency. into the journey of discovering, the powerlessness of power and the power of powerlessness.Because I was so very selfish, wanting complacency   eventually lead to the change of heart, the conversion. This conversion that was ESSENTIAL, a conditio sine qua non,  for the discovery, and entrance into  a wonder-full, awe-full experience.  Real freedom, supplanting apparent freedom.  This new freedom was, experiencing the freedom of living the life of, the true self. I now know the existential meaning of, " I have come that you will have life, and have it to the fullest" By writing this, I pray in some mysterious way this will be your experience. Complacency will not get anyone anywhere on the harsh, and crooked trail that leads one into the experience of an authentic, healthy  spiritual reality. "  First blog ,as an, 86 year old. 

                                               The exhalation of The Holy Cross.

         " The denunciation of  injustice implies the rejection of the use of Christianity 

             to legitimize the established order."( As a result ) "so many of our sisters and brothers live in poverty......the lack of respect for one's human dignity, the unjust limitations placed on personal freedom in areas of self-expression, politics, and religion." Gustavo  Gutierrez. 

 " Christ Jesus...emptied Himself..Taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found 

     human in appearance, He humbled Himself, He became subject to death, EVEN, death on the cross."

         " May you know the urgency, with which God longs for, you". ( John O'Donoghue )

 Life, in all of it's formations, is, a sacrament. In all realities, both hidden and revealed,  are revelations of The Real, and Ultimate Reality.  After I first read the following of the following I found it's ubiquitous  presence, in so many of the homilies of the preaching years: " Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived." I am being lead into  accepting that, all the mysteries we are drawn into, is   preparing us for an ever deepening understanding and as  consequence an evolving relationship with, The Ultimate  Reality. In all that is, we have been chosen to experience. The Immanence of The Divine. St. Paul reminds us, this gift is  "NOT for ourselves, alone. but is to be used for the building up of the community, the common good". To  exist in aloneness in not our destiny. We are called , as social  beings to live in relationship. To live a life within community.   As a result of  being immersed in this, "life within" our existence is inextricably linked to all of the lived experiences of said, community. What a challenge lies within that, "lived relationship", and all relationships. We are, now, adding the word cosmic to better explain the gift and resulting challenge.

        All that I am sharing, is not something I left, St.Patrick's Seminary in Carlow city with. I was ordained with 30 others on, June 8th, 1963. (Added a necessary exciting, Celtic, dimension to our six years, we were  blessed with a Scott. A rabid Glasgow Celtic supporter, to booth. He was also a veteran.) Those six years were like living in a holiday camp compared to what was, to follow. Beginning with being deliberately locked out of the rectory, that  I was to call home, and in the twilight of my years the understanding of, The sacramentality of The Cross, has been, and is, in every nanosecond, being taught to me. 

   This "teaching" did not, and is not taking place in visions, or earth shattering revelations. I was not aware of what was happening in, the every here and now moment, the existential. What I have come to understand, and that process of moment to moment teaching, can be summed up in one of my often used quotes, " We live life looking forward, but we only understand it looking, backwards". What is happening right now ? More and more clarity is, very slowly, Oh !! so very slowly,  breaking through. That is why this process of writing has become, in hindsight,  is in reality, sacramental.  The place, The Unknown, is being revealed. I desperately hope and pray, this leads, each  of  you beloved ones, to embrace  the sacramentality of your EVERY, lived experience. Blessings, on the Now moments, that you are to live.

       " The life of the Historical Jesus, is no longer a human life, submerged in history, but a theological life, an icon." Way back, the following blew me away, on my first reading : " Jesus's story, is our story today" (John O'Shea)  What I read, or we read, in the gospels are given to us as lenses to see beyond, the ordinary, into the mysterious reality within.That which I see is NOT my deepest reality. All that bubbles up to consciousness is how we see ourselves as we really are. The raw naked truth !!!! As we live, so, we write. We by our "living life to the fullest", write own personal, contemporary Gospel.  This Gospel,Your Gospel may be the only gospel some people will EVER get to read !!!!!! Awe-full ???? 

      This is really getting, very verbose. Hands up, all those, in agreement !!!!! So I will end, really, with this. The cross, our daily encounters with, "failure rejection and nakedness." (Rohr) will not be the end, but the beginning, of our lived encounter with the faith-full-ness of ,Mercy.  Being in the embrace of Mercy-full  Love, we are being: healed, soothed, comforted, strengthened, and protected by a Power greater than ourselves, also named The Unknown. In Lamentations we are gifted with this  amazing truth: " Because of The Lord's steadfast love we are not consumed, ( by guilt, fear, and shame. jh) for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faith-full-ness...His mercies never come to an end". So then Pope Francis encouraged us, "to never stop asking for mercy". "So at the end of the day, we give thanks for being betrothed, to The Unknown." (John O'Donoghue)  May the gifts of peace, joy, and love, permeate you whole being. Be, the cosmic gift ,you have been called to be. GGPJ.

    

   

         

      

"The Father of orphans and the Defender of widows is God, in His  holy dwelling. God gives a home to the forsaken." Psalm 68.

"Come, O Holy Spirit, come, strengthen, and inspire the heart of this faithless one." (hij)

"The pivotal shift in spirituality's meaning for the twentieth century is the birth of a worldview of interdependence or relationality. In the broadest sense,... spirituality is the relational component of lived experience." Katherine Zappone.

"The Father of orphans and the Defender of widows is God, in His holy dwelling." We are blessed (?) to be challenged by today's worldview; it reveals that our Prodigal Father God is not tucked away in His comfortable Heaven. She/He finds a permanent home in the tabernacle within our depths. It is NOT one person of the Holy Trinity who is present as our guest: all Three are making Their dwelling in that same tabernacle made of frail human flesh. A tabernacle that was created, fashioned in eternity, and now has found enfleshed presence in today's cosmic reality. There is never a moment that we are not bearing that tabernacle; as we go, where we go, so goes the tabernacle. We were created in eternity, and for eternity we will be bonded.

Just mere existence is not enough for us to fulfill the destiny that has been chosen for us. We have to come alive. "The glory of God is the human being fully alive" (St. Irenaeus). We must pray for the courage to embrace the mystical and cosmic paths that have been chosen for us. They have been created to be essential for the Divine Creative Plan to find perfect completion. Our constant prayer of surrender to The Plan is, "Not my will, but Your will be done." As we continue "to trudge the path," we are actually in the process of accepting those words. Process is not an event. "We do not think our way into a new way of acting; we ACT our way into a new way of thinking." So sad, but unfortunately, all too true.

I have serious problems with constantly attending to what is happening in my life and the challenges it presents. Here are some thoughts that are bubbling up. They are disjointed, unattached to what is being reflected on, but are real for frail, and becoming more frail, powerless Joe.  As a person advances along the calendar of finite time, one's ability to exercise self-will becomes less of a challenge. The desire to have one's own way, no matter the cost, remains strong and in some areas stronger. Thanks to the blessing of old age, we cannot carry on the fight for any length of time.

"Every blessing is a curse; every curse is a blessing." Acceptance of that reality sure eases the burden of the journey. The resulting anger and frustration are tough to own but necessary for our evolving relationships both with humanity and the cosmos. Let us pray that we will respond to the grace that will lead us through challenging, dark valleys and transforming mountaintop experiences always safely and gently. We are always ,beloved daughters/sons, who are always abiding in an unconditioned love that cannot  be earned, deserved,  or qualified  for. It is a pure gift. It is grace, also understood as The Prodigal Lover, in action.

This  Prodigal Cosmic Lover loves the littlest ant, the most alienated person, both within our perception, and society's prejudiced eyes. The existential challenge is how we are to work for change. Change within ourselves, which will then help change the lens of a dysfunctional current society. Change is always slow, and difficult. Well, that has been, and my past experience. My current experience. sad to say, is no different. That is why my mantra ,"Come Holy Spirit come and change  my hardened heart" is prayed, repeatedly Ever make an effort to change the mind of an older person ? well I am considered to be, a senior, senior, senior citizen. Welcome to my reality. By the way it is awaiting all who are privileged to reach, the so called, The Golden years !!!!!!

As you read the  first sentences, what struck you, What emerged from your depths, from your deepest reality? Is that not the quiet workings of The Holy Trinity, always existing and celebrating in the tabernacle of your uniqueness ?  How personal did you allow those enlightening and life giving to become ? Did the thought, hit you, despite the always slow reaction to, uncomfortable challenges,  of how personal that first quote from Scripture is?  The Father of orphans, The Defender of widows, IS presently at home.  His Holy dwelling, in today's reality, IS EACH ONE OF US.  We have been chosen, from eternity, to be the dwelling place of The Creative Spirit, and Family, Within our individual and collective depths lies the answer(s) to all the challenges provided ourselves, and  to the collective, the cosmic. The Creative Spirit always uses human instrumentality, to achieve the fulfillment of creation's destiny. Mary's place ???

         The above words, are to be, actually consciously encountered with deep reverence, not just glance at. As a result,  may todays "widows and orphans", the powerless, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, the rejects of polite society become the place where, acceptance and Samaritan care, is offered, by us, and others. The resulting, cost ?  That will be personal for each one. Prepared to pay ?

  " May your prayer of listening, be deepen enough to hear in the depths, the laughter of The Divine"