" Whoa Nelly", tell Father time to slow down.  Put the brakes on There is so much presented on the platter of life, I am loosing my grip on reality. And 'Gramps" when this startling truth hit you, and stark naked reality ,become a living mysterious encounter  with The Unknown, hit you ? So with a rattled mind, I dare to meet the challenge of this effort. You can call it, name it ,whatever your reality messages you.

         We had two great events in our Liturgical celebrations. One was the Feast of Christ The King, signaling the end of one Liturgical calendar year, and then, we are invited to start another year of faith formation, and spiritual renewal as we encounter, The First Sunday of Advent. One celebrates Christ as King in all of His  majestic heavenly Glory. We are quickly asked to leave those thoughts behind and focus on the descending of our God as a vulnerable baby. The most defenseless new born of all of creation. A human newborn has no instinct for survival. The question must be asked why The Creator of al Creation become immersed in a perfectly imperfect reality? 

          One Sunday we are caught up in the glory, we are then asked to forget that, and move to a new vivifying presentation of the arrival of The Christ Child, the Baby who will come to known as, Jesus  The Carpenter. This Child is mysteriously  destined to be The Revelation that signals the arrival of "  an Eternal and Universal  Kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.".  The Prophet, Rabbi Jesus reveals the work order he has come to make a reality. In HIS own words He tells all that He has been anointed  sent to do revolutionary work. His mission and ministry will entail the revelation of the good news , to the poor. 

The poor are hereby chosen to receive what money cannot buy. It resulted in the poor, the prisoner, the rejected, the marginalized, the outcast are being offered a pearl  of great price. At what price? it is offered absolutely free. This gift cannot be earned, or  deserved. Nobody has to go through hoops to qualify. This gift giving will be called,  grace . The love of The Gracious Creator in action. This Gracious Creator's revelation begins with  most vulnerable  of all creation,  The Christ Child, Jesus of Nazareth.

         The job description does not end there. For now I must be satisfied with the above. Here is a question for further thought and reflection. How many would dare to announce in the birth notice, " Our child has been chosen by her/his Creator, to preach, by the life lived,  The Gospel of life to the most rejected,   and the most marginalized. A prophet has been born. Creation will be changed because of this birth."  

                                                   A very Happy and mysterious  NEW Year.

  We are now in the beginnings of a new, Liturgical New Year. It is also the beginning of the Advent season. " Every blessing is a curse, and  every curse is a, blessing". This is so very true for me at this stage in my adulting life, as it was true at every other stage of my journey into Mystery. This began the season of great challenge, especially as the calendar continued its turning over, to bring to awareness what is  always new in the  depths. Now 85 years on my terminal calendar, and 62 on the journey into the ever new revelations of The Mystery Who is continuously  being revealed through ore shared humanity..

    To be of any value to you, the reader and fellow traveller, I must not return to the enviting chestnuts of old. The relevant message is not there. So the challenge of grasping new lenses through which the newest of this season is revealed, is a challenging reality that must be embraced if we are going to vivify these moments and days gifted to us. There is a mysterious newness in every moment. No two moments are the same. We are learning no two of any creation are the same. The Creative and Creating Creator never, duplicates. Everything is an original. When we say this life is boring,  then, take what it takes to freshen up the lenses so the Everlasting Newness can enter our consciousness,  bringing  excitement to our so called, humdrum life.  " There is nothing profane, for those who know how to see" St.Francis.

     The lens through this which the Mystery of The Incarnation, will have a radical effect on the way all life, all creation is viewed. Through the radical, The Creating Mystery that is so slowly revealed. This revelation comes as we see all that exists as is a oneness, is a wholeness and above all a holiness. " There is nothing profane for those who know how to see". It is essential that we  see all, as one. We must, to use a modern word,  be non-binary in our vision. The old either/or is outdated, we now are challenged to life and learn, in the Wonderfull freedom of the both/and. Be prepared to meet the challenge ,that we will of necessity encounter in our moment to moment trudge along the  mysterious  exciting road of, "happy destiny". To repeat myself, are you surprised ?, the spiritual journey is hard and challenging WORK.

         I have been sidetracked from the message I wanted to covey. It is so aggravatingly true, we propose and The  Creating Spirit  disposes. If we want to make,The One That Knows All laugh, share the plans we propose, for action, then sit back  and be prepared for a journey into the unknown, and FOR us ,unplanned. "My Lord God I have no idea where I am going ", but I have to trust  The Wisdom and the dark journey of faith. Maybe in the next effort ?????

     

          Pierre De Chardin,  the great  Jesuit theologian and paleontologist, was one time looked on as a maverick, whose books were not looked on as approved reading has gifted us with these challenging words," We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings immersed in the, human condition." These words had a radical effect on my ability to think to see anew. I do not remember when I read those words but after that experience, my  thinking and  the resulting thoughts  were , as you may well expect, radically changed. My lenses through which all reality was viewed, resulted in a deepening, I am still coming to grips with. The resulting trudge has resulted a gradual unfolding. So let  the great exquisite, mysterious, sometimes pain-full, yet at times joy-full, unfolding, unveiling  process continue. 

      "We are spiritual beings immersed in the human condition." Our origin is spiritual, springing from the  infinite loving womb of our Creator God. My human existence  then  is not the only existence, reality, I am challenged to come to terms with ,and gain a gradual  understanding of. Its appearance, is, at times so painfully slow. We are told by those who know this unveiling not happen without real a great  cooperative effort on our part. Has not  everything  of real value, in this life a  hearty price attached to it, except of course, Our Prodigal Father's unconditioned love.  To be honest I did not like to have to change decades of seeing, thinking and understanding. After all had I not finally become somewhat comfortable in my brand new Vatican Two shoes ?  I was growing comfortable with the familiar. Now I understand that was my false self recoiling from inevitable change. There was a great cry, Let me alone !!!  The Alone never responds to unhealthy requests. We are so loved,  that only the very best of gift awaits us. You and I are in the process of believing, we deserve only The Best, and will not, through grace, settle for less. D.V.

      We are preparing for The  Original Spiritual  Being to come to be immersed in our human condition. There was not a different humanity awaiting The Eternal  Voyager, our broken, vulnerable, desperately wounded was awaiting, His Incarnation. That coming has forever changed to course of both human and religious history. That change has been in process, we are called to be the instruments through which further revelations can be revealed to all of creation. How often have we been told, " we are more than we appear externally to be." There is a mysterious reality we are being prepared to be led to. In the gradual embracing of The Mystery within, will the Mystery of The Incarnation be continued to be revealed. This is who you really are, and are called to be. Would you believe, or are you coming to the belief you each one without  exception  are ,MARY, Yes, Mary and we like her, are privileged to be chosen from eternity to surrender our lives lives and let The Gracious Creative One continue the transformation  of our mighty cosmos. " Help me to believe the truth about myself no matter how beautiful it is.

       Something to be added to your Thanksgiving list ?? Have a blessed one. Great Gramps.

  Holy and mercy-full,  Spirit, help me to believe the truth about myself, no matter how beautiful it is. These must be familiar words to you, I use them often enough. I am using them here, and will again, D.V., in the coming weeks so as to encourage all to have the faith-filled  courage to believe the awe-filled mystery laying in your depths. From eternity this moment has been planned. This Mystery can and as a result of our free response be brought to consciousness. Then to  be embraced as the life changing  power of change. 

     As we approach the coming seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany we need to take, as we say in Ireland, a "serious run at it"!!!!!. May I say, a very serious ,reflective run at it, otherwise we will miss the message and suffer through another ho-hum, very ordinary time. To begin with, here quoting John O'Donoghue, " there is a place in you where you have never been wounded, where ther's still a sureness in you, where there is a seamlessness in you, and there is a confidence and tranquility in you. And I think the intention of prayer and spirituality and love is now and again to visit that inner kind of sanctuary.".

  At first read ,do you ever actually believe this mysterious truth about your true identity? There is in our depths a sanctuary where the One Whose coming we are preparing ourselves to welcome, is now and always here present. The more we enter this awe-filled reality, will our preparations have depth of meaning, rather than mere meaningless and boring  routine. Like everything  else in life we are empowered to make a free  faithless or faith filled , response.   Our coming Guest invites us to " come rest in Me, as I do in you" and discover ever anew, the sanctuary of confidence and tranquility. This is a gift truly worth being prepared for.

 I particularly like those words "now and again." What are your honest feelings ? The truth will set you free, but first they will tee you off. " Lord, that I may see", "the new beginnings..... of that which is new' lying beyond the safety of sameness'. This will take us beyond what we have outgrown, and are being prepared for gifts far beyond our wildest imagination. Maybe we will slowly grow into the truth that " our lives are unique stones, in the mosaic of human existence." ( Nouwen)

 85+ 18......One of the thing we can definitely count on, is, change. We are in the midst of one of Mother Nature's most color-full and dramatic changes. What a sacrament  is being  presented for our  encouragement, as we reflect and meditate on what is right there before our eyes. She is laying before us  one of life's greatest lessons. There is such tremendous beauty, hidden and revealed in,  the dying process. What beauty is revealed as trees change magically, with breathless beauty, on their journey into emptiness, and nakedness.  As it is with nature so it is with all the  other occupants of creation. 

    I was first introduced to the gifts that come with advancing years by, Mrs Cotter, I have mentioned her in previous blogs, was a grey haired  gracious senior citizen and a widow. There was a such kindness oozing from her every pore. What a wonder-full example of what can happen, when aging  results  in graciousness , acceptance, and inclusiveness. (Offered to all, but they do not get to break into our spiritual journey. So all creation suffers.) In her aging, maturing process she was able to reveal the great mystery  that with dying we are birthed into a new way of living. She was blessed by grace, and said Yes!!! as a consequence the gift t transformed and transfigured her give life. For your meditation and reflection--- the following quote from The  Mass of The Resurrection, " Death is not an end, death is a  beginning".   

To  help on the journey into "the deep", where abundance is hidden and awaiting our arrival, let us reflect on the following gift the great Irish, Nature Mystic, John O'Donoghue's," For a New Beginning."

        " In out-of- the-way places of the heart, where your thoughts never think to wander, this beginning has been quietly forming, waiting until you were ready to emerge... ..   For  a along time it has watched your desire, feeling the emptiness growing inside you, noticing how you willed yourself on, still unable to leave what you have outgrown......      It watched you play with the seduction of safety and the gray promises that sameness whispered, heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, wondered would you always live like this..... Then the delight when your courage kindled, and you stepped onto new ground, your eyes young again with energy and dream, a path of plenitude opening before you."

          WOW !!!! what a gift John has bequeathed us. Grist for the mill. Words that challenge us, no matter what stage in life we are at, we are  to be ever and always vigilant. There is a wonder-full, awe-full potency in our depths. The power that, when allowed to operate in freedom, beyond our fear filled anxieties,  will reveal the deepest truths about who we really are, in The Gracious Creator's original scheme of things. The slow journey of discovery, always being guided by the Spirit will will challenge us to go beyond the easy, and  the security of the familiar. O how I ache for the security of entrenchment, but then we are not designed for safe harbors, we are built to face the unsettledness of life's oceans.

       From our shipwrecks, our disasters, our frequent encounters with the  impotences revealed to us, we are slowly schooled in the wisdom, essential for a joy-filled  trudge through the unknowns of life. The Divine is revealed in ways we could never imagine. When we say, our Mother/ Father  God is One of endless surprises, we ain't whistling Dixie !!! The thing certain is there will always be change. The change will come as we enter into and emerge from the darkness of faith. As we are, literally, brought to our knees, we will rise up with a vital newness of understanding, which is also called, wisdom. 

     "In the-out-way-places of the heart.....this  beginning has been quietly forming waiting until you were ready to emerge". Wow !!!! how patient is The  Infinite Creative and Creating Power of the Holy Spirit. A unique gift is prepared for us, and when the time is right, it is revealed to us. We may think this is a sudden event, but "the mills of God grind very slow but they grind very true." We join Thomas Merton in prayer: "my Lord God I have no idea where I am going", within those uncertain steps into the darkness of Faith, a new beginning is slumbering, waiting for the right moment to break into consciousness. We think these  gifts are to be seen as somewhat sudden, far from it.....( HOPEFULLY this thought can be continued. What do you think ? Love and blessings. Great Grandpa Joe.