" There are cosmic plans and Divine designs  far greater than our particular griefs                                                                                                          or current irritations." Kathy Coffey.                               " There may be  tears during the night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5                                        "The unique face of Christ is, the, ikon, but every human face is                                                                                                                 an, ikon of, Christ " Catherine de Hueck Doherty.

        " Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is facing a pivotal choice, either to construct a       new Tower of Babel, or to build a city in which God and humanity dwell together." Pope Leo 14. 

                " Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be, lived ", has to be one of my most often  used quotes. Yet, in the constant repetition of those words, something very unexplainable happens. Each time there is an awakening to an emerging truth, and the evolution of though, of mysterious origin. This leads to this evolutionary understanding ,  the totality of human beings, as well, as all that has been created, or will be created, finds its origin is The Womb of Mystery. That is why you find yourself to be an, insoluble mystery. This does not prevent all from gradually surrendering, to the, " drawing in". This is a workable description of what is sometimes seen as, cosmic human destiny. There is no individuality, in the cosmic consciousness. So we of our essence are mysterious. As the above quote reminds, we are not, THE, ikon of Christ, we are, AN, ikon of Christ.  So when you check yourself at the mirror, Who is it, that is looking right back ?

    How often have we herd describing another as, a "very mysterious person". Those few words are supposed to describe that which is indescribable. People married for a long time, readily admit, "the longer we are married, the less I seem to know about my partner." She/he is becoming more and more of a mystery. BINGO !!!!That was a reality I always made an attempt to convey to couples that were preparing for The Sacramental Celebration of, Matrimony. The forthcoming sacred, mysteriously human actions  was  going to be  celebration of, the sacrament, of their evolving love. In every now moment, of each  lived day  there is a constant awakening. Awakening  the couple to the awe-full realization It will continue to evolve, that evolution will always be guided by The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is The Power that guides all creation, plus each and every act of, creativity. 

       That celebration of the sacramentality of their love, is often celebrated within The Eucharistic Celebration. That celebration is THE great celebration of an essential mystery. "Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again" Each couple will be challenged to accept the reality of they, in their unique mysterious togetherness, are already immersed in, The Paschal Mystery." ( It seems we can never shake the reality of The Paschal Mystery that is waiting, to be awakened to, in all the reality we encounter. Not just meet, encounter. What is  being triggered within you, bubbling up from the depths ?)) Every human face, is an ikon of Christ", we must never stop there. The two people facing each other, that are to be seen in their essential reality as, Christ, not meeting Christ, but encountering Christ. In their bed, Christ will sleep with Christ. In the celebration of the sacramentality of their sexuality,  the sexual encounter is in reality The Body of Christ, is, both given, and received. This  encounter is to be seen as the essence of The Sacrament of The Eucharist. Eucharist is first encountered in your bed. Then there is the eucharist, around the kitchen table. Then all that is brought to be shared and celebrated in the communal celebration of The  Eucharistic Sacrifice, and, Sacrament. Now, to where does, " the Priesthood of The Laity lead you to?  Remember these very old, old, chestnuts: "Liturgy, is NOT, a spectator sport." " You are going to be, IN, the celebration, NOT, at the celebration". Joe,  WOW, it has been a long, long time !!!!!  

       The single person, must also delve deep into their actuality as being, The Body of Christ. They are the tabernacle, the dwelling place of The Holy Trinity. They do not sleep, ALONE. The Father, Brother, and Spirit are to be discovered in the sacramental reality, of each moment. Alone, with The Holy Spirit as guide, the single person is offer no distraction from their unique experience of the sacrament of silence. Silence, IS, the Creator's, first language. What unique sacramental gifts the moments of silence are. Being alone, with, The Alone is the precursor to mystical awarenesses. Awake or asleep ??? Sleep brings in contact, with a reality we wish to avoid. We can do so in our waking hours, but asleep we enter the realm of the archetype.  We are told that our dreams are our deepest reality. A reality that can be denied while we are  conscious, but sleep removes all obstacles. Reality breaks through, but speaks to us in metaphorical language.

  Did you know breakfast, originated in Ireland ? The Irish of old, used to sit around the table in the morning, to share the dreams that inhabited, their just experienced, sleep ? That would take awhile. Us Irish, we are known to stretch conversations into epics !!!!!! You who have been reading these effort ? This is a given !!!!!  Us Irish, are dreamers. The Irish word for dream, is "aisling". This efforts comes under the heading, " Aisling, on earth " For us, The Beloved's creation,  is the reality  within which where we are to live that dream of being," happy, joyous, and free". We are doing our best, most of the time to screw it up. This blog is intended to help us not be saboteurs of, The Prodigal Creators dream. " All creation is charged with the grandeur, of God." ( Hopkins).   How is breakfast celebrated in your, " little church of the home ?"  Even on, weekends ? Does the Holy Spirit need to be gifted with more opportunities to be what The Spirit Has always been, our, CO-CREATOR, of all emerging reality.                Blessings on all the efforts to make each moment, sacramental. Gramps.

   " Catholicism, is a thinking person's, religion." G. K. Chesterton

        " The Risen Christ, continues to take flesh, in a living body." Anonymous.

    " AI, might imitate meaning, but it does not suffer, love, repent, or wonder." The New Yorker. 

     "Humans must remain subjects, not data objects" Pope Leo, X14

 

 As I was reflecting on these days, and these times I was hit by this unsettling thought, all reality, all of humanity is being hit by a tsunami. That meant very high and destructive waves. Have the experience of being in one, is beyond my experience. Living in this desert, it is very safe to predict, my experiencing a physical tsunami is preposterous.In is even the nightmare That shall never be mine. Oh! Oh!, Joe you said that awe-full word, never. I may never fall asleep again !!!! We have been in a spiritual tsunami. Wave, after wave of awe-filled, mysterious laden grace has hit the shores of all, human souls, all humanity. It is up to each one to unpack the personal impact that has occurred,  and  is currently shaping our thinking and behaviors. "As we think. so, we act" do you find any existential truth in those words ? Nothing is going to change communally, unless the is change in the foundational cell. This is where you, are the designated, hitters. So let us go, faith-fully.

       One, of the many spiritual tsunami wave we have experienced , lead to an ever deepening journey is into the encounter that happened on the road to Emmaus. That reality, is our reality today hidden in the right now. Most of us can relate with the thinking of the two disciples. They had tremendous expectations, but the reality of Calvary, changed all of that.  ( Remember expectations are PLANNED resentments )They were disheartened, a discouraged as walked, and talked. Then without the being aware of it, the Risen Christ, full-filling His role of being Good Shepherd mysterious wove His presence, into their existential reality. Then through formation, and participation in The Eucharist, their doubts were transformed into new, and enthusiastic belief, which motivated them to, action. This resulted in they sharing their transformational experience. Are you responding to the awakening being offered, in these sacramental moments ? The mystery of Emmaus, right now. What awakening ? The awakening to the reality of, " as it was, so it is", to day and every moment we are gifted with.  Is faith-filled living to be our chosen destiny, or will we surrender to the safety, and security of the non-challenging, non-threatening, familiar? We again return to the insidiousness, of complacency. Uncomfortable ????

I was a body surfer in my younger days. As you joined the other surfers, in waiting out the best approaching wave, you listened for the magic words, " outside". As you looked out here was an approaching wave to be entered into, and surrendered to the outcome. Sometimes it was a short ride. Sometimes you got caught in a pretty violent run, ride, to the shore. Then sometimes you looked around and in the interest of self-preservation, cried, "Where is my, boogie board." then I found myself turning, and heading back out, to join the waiting welcoming community. On the way out I would duck and swim under the smaller waves. In the waiting there was no ability to touch sand. You were really supported by the power of the ocean. This is the first time, I have ever reflected on, what I am awakened to, as  a mystical, graced experience. Turning around and going back out, was the power of grace working. The AI would keep me on the shore. Leading to this challenging thought, grace is circular, the AI is linear. Well what does that mean ?

      "Grace is circular. Grace operates  as a continuous, flowing current that endlessly returns to renew, sustain and expand. Grace is an ongoing cycle of receiving, transforming, and giving back." The mysterious element in all of this, grace is not bothered with stumbling and falling. Our ego driven false self is. The false self has tremendously, powerful weapons at its disposal. The toxic trinity,  comprising of guilt, fear, and shame. These have been dealt with previously, so, in the interest of time, let's move on. Why ? The Feasts of,  Paschal encounter, Good Shepherd, Christ The King, and Corpus Christy offer us such deep insights as we celebrate each feast. They are repeated each year and each year due to the circularity of grace. Each year we are OFFERED the graced opportunity to return to be further renewed in our depths.. We are again uniquely graced  with The Gift that offers mysterious sustenance that sustains us for immersion into The Unknown, and Unknowable. Combined by the graced tsunami of the above feasts, we find we are experiencing expansion. We are now, the living body chosen, from eternity, to be the enfleshment of The Risen Christ. 

We are now longer just individuals. We are no longer valueless objects, to be used, abused and set aside when we no longer have  temporal, quantifiable value. According to who, according to some inanimate, feeling deprived algorithm. This decried by Pope Leo. Where will this transformative understanding, find support ? How will it be promulgated?  By whom will it be embraced and championed?  It will take those with lives who first of all are messy. Messiness, and the more messy the better. It will be lives who are are not confined by rigid formulas. It will be lives who are reluctantly committed to, at first, non binary thinking. It will take brave individuals who are responding to the prophetic call of, Confirmation. The call to be soldiers of a new, vibrant, vivifying army who are prepared to risk. Risk the disapproving looks and shaming words of those  fragile security, based on ego, will be threatened. Lives built on ego, are built on a dangerous, destruction  prone foundation, like it is built on shifting sand. They are curated lives.
   Are what ? curated lives, bolstered by self centered, egotistical lives. Lives that have chosen a lifestyle that is, carefully, selected. Constantly being polished within non binary safety, all for ? All for public display. The gods of" power, property and prestige " (Rohr) are worshipped with assiduous care, and supreme attention. The insatiable god of perfection is in close proximity waiting its turn for reverential, and preferential, supreme ,undivided, attention. No deviation is allowed. deviation from the prescribed way of thinking and living leads to physical, and, or, psychological abuse. The lives finding existence in this hell are truly life-less. We who have chosen, and have chosen to respond we through "radical grace" come to believe and accept a startling reality. It is the reality that without  equivocation states we, are The Body of Christ. NOT somehow like in some way. No, like, we just, ARE. The read, deal.

 Mysterious, through the continuous action of grace, we are the contemporary. Corpus Christy. Meaning what ? We called to be, as Christ was, " chosen, then taken, blessed, broken and given". The Risen Christ, present in the consecrated host, of Eucharistic Presence,  the ritual breaking is essential, so the destiny of Risen Body may be fulfilled.  Being The Living Body of Christ our lives of their essence cannot be curated. This reality we grow in acceptance of. That has been, and currently my story. This effort is the sharing of that story. In the sharing the existing pain is somehow lessened. Freedom is never free. We have to respond to grace, and freely accept the invitation to chose healthy physical and spiritual actions, that can lead only to ever deepening  freedom. Living lives  replicating  the life The Beloved Son, in a a contemporary, alien environment. The chosen, are called to see the reality behind  and beyond our moments of rejection, dejection, abject failure, moments of repetitive falling,  alienation, and betrayal, a mysterious life, whose existence is slowly revealed through the challenge of, acceptance. 

  This happens through that familiar word, yes . We are constantly called to repeatedly repeat, that yes. This is a ye grounded in and through an ever evolving faith. This faith generated acceptance  leads us to see  deep beyond what the critical, and judgmental see. These eyes do not see that behind and beyond the unmentionables of  family, church, and society a miracle of grace is occurring. Transformation and transformation is now operative, where before there was, perceived failure.   Grace, the workings of The Creative Spirit, does not happen without the cooperation of each, pre-uniquely chosen and gifted human being. We are not a human being carved out of stone, we are evolving human beings, been awakened to the essence of, Who, it we are. The linear abilities are impotent, dis-connected from connecting with inner reality, so with Real Reality ?? The non-binary way of seeing and acting is, the chosen way, of The Chosen One. We all are His  Body, his reality, is his way of living in the process of our way of seeing and acting ? The question is asked, the answer is revealed in living, authentically. The tsunami of grace, does not leave wreckage. At those moments of grace, have gifted you with ???  Being the contemporary,Body of Christ has led where? Curated lives frustrates to working of grace. What is the resolution to act, have you been led to make ? Proclaim your gospel. A gospel that will alleviate so much of the current sufferings, of The Body of Christ.

          The Feast of The Holy Trinity, 2026.

     " Nobody escapes being wounded, we are all wounded people." Henri Nouwen.

       " Come to, Me, all you who labour, and are overburdened, and I, will give you, rest.... learn from                                                                             Me, for I am gentle.....and you will find rest."Matthew 11 28:29.      

  " Yahweh, Yahweh, God of tenderness, and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy ......please my lord, come with us, although... an obstinate people" Exodus 34

 WOW !! WOW !! with the passing of each Sunday, we are truly being immersed in the true depths of who, we are, Who, we are called to be, and, Who, it is that calls us... ENDLESSLY... We are, to say the least, "standing in high, cotton". Now we have to take the time to chew on, masticate  this steak we are being fed. A metaphorical steak , but steak. This is not pablum. Pablum is for children, adults need steak. In deference to the vegans, in my poverty, this is the best, Joe, can do. ( I wonder have I lost some readers?) I am also able to fall back on St.Paul for support. He pointed out there was a right time for pablum, but, there was the time when pablum must be set aside. I am told babies do not welcome the change. There is a part of us that will never accept or enter change willingly. We love control. We love certainty. The spiritual journey is all about surrendering control, and embracing, uncertainty. WOW!!! This is so easy to write about, the practice ? Well that is another matter altogether. Reflection, or top of your head comments ??????

     Our basic, really challenging reality, is the fact we are facing very adult challenges. ( Just read that the war with Iran has resumed. The insanity of war is in full display for our, lenses) To enter the real reality with hope and confidence, we must be consciously connected with an endless  source of nourishing adult food. When we are consciously connected with,The Source, a homecoming, is being experienced. Enjoy !!! In the reality of coming home, we will be constantly, nourished. Prodigal love will be operative,  in every moment, and step. I believe, help,  my unbelief/disbelief. We will be led to the discovery of a well  from whose depths refreshing Water, is in endless supply. 

   It becomes an unsettling reality that nothing happens without our cooperation, and  This, YES, will connect us to and with The Source. Yes !!! a conscious yes, is an essential requirement. We must do our part. Yes, we must do our part.  This results in us being strengthened us for the moment to moment battles. We are never alone in the battle, the struggle. Mysterious nourishment, will make us resilient in challenging times. The mystery of grace, we will become slowly connected with, in very mysterious ways. Ways that will slowly become, the ways of a faith journey. All journeys are unique.

 In the pantry, of our depths, there is  stored there all that we need. There is nothing missing. Fear may distract us from the depth of that truth. Our false selves abhors this truth. That is why we have to respond to the invitation " to launch, into the deep" with an ever deepening faith. Evolving, Faith in the Ones Dwelling there, there in the pantry of our depths is a Community of Lovers. A community of dynamic, always empowering, Love. They are sometimes known as, Our Source of Origin, our Brother, and Lover. The key to the pantry is entrusted to us through silence, emptiness and nothingness. 

Those Indwelling in our depths, are not, strangers. Strangers are those people we have never met. The Trinitarian Reality is our original home, a home in which we can never be strangers. We can never  loose our belonging. Neither can our Family connection be ever be denied us. Yes !! there will be efforts, intense efforts at that, to somehow shake or confidence in the covenant. A covenant providing us being  grounded in tenderness and compassion. Because of its Source of origin we are grounded in infinite, tenderness, and compassion. This does demand an ever deepening commitment to an endless exploration, and reflection. Here we will find the rest we so desperately need. WE ARE NEVER, FIXED. It is not promised. This is the source of so much turmoil, as we go on our unique way. " Expectations are, planned, resentments."

  The giving can never stop."It NOT that we love God, but that God loves us. Not that we give love, but, that we accept Love" Saint John. Being the "disciple that Jesus loved", he had to know something about love. As John was loved, so are we, all of us. There are no exceptions. Religiosity, binary thinking can be obstacles. St.Peter  once remarked," God shows no partiality." A great place to stop, for now. Gramps !!

 

    

                      

                                                                  PENTECOST....2026. 

                 "It is possible, to live your whole life, and die, without ever having met the person,                                                                                      

                                                                                                      that lived your life.  (Thomas Merton) 

                "I Am, here, I Am, here, to the people, who not even invoke, my name."  Isiah 65:1. 

        We are being invited to celebrate, on this Pentecost Sunday, the ending of the Lent-Paschal Mystery celebrations. It is also looked on as the birthday of The Church. Happy birthday, now, lets go to work. We the ending of The Lenten-Paschal seasons, we are entering into the Liturgical Season, misnamed, Ordinary time. Misnamed in my very limited estimation. We have completed the official celebrations of The Lenten-Paschal celebrations, now we are going to enter into a real challenge. I suggest the following , how are we to be sensitized so as to have the lenses to rediscover, in so-called Ordinary Time, the Eternal Mysteries that have just been the focus of celebrations. To become gradually sensitized that in the so-called ordinary is the extraordinary. The mysterious !!! As we are gradually initiated into those above mysteries we will be somehow mysteriously  introduced to our who we really are. Not only who we are,  but Who is it we are called to be, and Who has done the calling.    ENDLESSLY !!!! MYSTERIOUSLY !!!  Darkly !!!!! What a birthday present to open !!!!!

  This endlessness will allow us to get to know who is that person, we are journeying with. Who are The Three Mysterious Presences that are indwelling within our depths, waiting for welcome and recognition. This is not easy. We will be in a constant battle with the false self, "the small self"(Rohr). It will take deep faith and reckless courage. The daily entrance into this battle means,  We will not be numbered " those  frightened and timid souls, who know, neither victory, nor, defeat"( Roosevelt.) There are mysterious happenings in store, as we grow into acceptance we will enter cautiously a mysterious journey. Resulting in  us being gradually initiated into the mystery of who we are, and Who The Divine God is. The Person hidden in our personhood, is The Eternal  Triune Mystery. This is not a journey we can take on our own behest. We may erroneously think we are doing all, because we are willing it. That is when we are in egocentricity. A very dangerous, and deceptive place of apparent, existence. Not real, reality. Facing that illusion is our life long challenge. Because of our limited humanness, we need help from The Supernatural. We receive the preternatural gifts of Faith, Hope, and Love. The Gracious Creative  Loving Spirit does "look on us in our lowliness", and showers on us  with endless mercy-full transforming, and transfiguring  grace. That is why grace is another way expressing how Love acts. Love in action, IS, grace.

Pentecost Sunday was the Sunday when The Holy Spirit, hidden in tongues of fire, fulfilled a promise, made by Rabbi Jesus. Remember how He said, " I, will not leave you orphans. I will send you another Advocate." Pentecost is the fulfillment of that promise. The Divine, IS, always true to the promises made.  Hope in the promises of The Eternal, never disappoints. Takes a great deal of soul searching to work through what we are to call, name, apparent disappointments. ( What are the  mysterious promises made, you are seeking, and searching for ?  If I may, may I suggest the bromide, that is my go, help, I dire emergencies " Come, Holy Spirit come."  Facing the darkness of uncertainty, " Come, Holy Spirit come and fill the wounded, and hardened heart, of this faith-less one." Been working for DECADES now. That now, includes this sacramental, now moment. 

 The disciples we just a gathering of scared, and disappointed individuals. With, and because of the actions of The  Dynamic transforming Power they became an enlivened, transfigured community of Faith. They willingly went forward, and in their fearlessness, and so the transformation of the cosmos, began. We have to constantly remind ourselves we are the bearers of all that transpired on that Sunday, eons ago. For this you have been eternally chosen. For this challenge you have been uniquely formed, gifted. For this challenge we are eternally strengthened, by a Power. A Loving, creative and creating Power Who has chosen our depths, to be The Tabernacle of Eternal Light. That Light can never be quenched. That Light can never desert us, no matter, the deserts, we are drawn into. This Light is always seeking to lighten the darkness, with a Light, that may, and is suppressed, opposed. The Light will penetrate all darkness, and reveal unending mysteries. " I believe, help my unbelief/ disbelief." 

  When I was growing up in Ireland, it was The Holy Ghost Who was found to be in our prayers. The Holy Ghost had the dubious distinction of being called, named, " The forgotten Person of, The Blessed Trinity.' WOW !! what a change The Spirit has experienced in recent decades. The Spirit has engineered a real transformation. Love, we are told is of its very nature creative. Are we now surrendering  more and more to that Creative, and Creating Love. Not because we want to, but because of Truth we have to. These uncertain times demands we have some source of certainty in this, our most challenging existence. The Christ did envisage this for us. He said " I have come that you may have life, and have it to the fullest." Existence is not our destiny, "fullness of life is". So, Joe, do you want to share your journey of discovery,  from the daily fight for existence, to the living of life to the fullest. From  the  place of merely eking out   existence, a terrifying place to be, to be blessed life that comes from, "living life, on life's terms." 

" Living life, on life's terms" demands the deep immersion into The Paschal Mystery. I have been told, and am learning, as I am being schooled in the hard school of experience,  that there is a great similarity between what my destiny is and the making of colored Easter eggs. The egg is not dipped just once into coloring. It is dipped again and again. Each Lenten-Paschal season we are  dipped and dipped. Metanoia is the resulting gift. A deep change to the direction of our present choosing happens. We are graced so as to have the power to leave behind some impediment to authentic living. Then into the void created, a new way of being is, graciously and unconditionally, gifted. This gift awaits,  discovery. Just like the next effort ???  The power of The Resurrection lights a fire.                 In Paschal love. Great gramps. 

   

 

                                                          

    Whatever one sees, there are layers of mysterious truths, and meanings, hidden, in the darkness of the unknown.  As we journey into the unknown, we are brought into an ever deepening relationship with, The Unknown, The Unknowable. These truths, because of their newness and uniqueness, we are always in the endless process of awakening, and re-awakening   This process of awakening, and re-awakening, always leads to truths, hidden, waiting further  recognition, and endless action. This is mysterious process, is a challenge we are  always invited to plunge ever deeper  into. Whether we accept the invitation, or reject its newness, pregnant with dangers, and uncertainties, is the decision of our free will. Here, in this moment and in every is the daily confrontation with delirious effects of, codependency. This is the challenging, disturbing reality we are facing, many times unwillingly.

 Is there any body living a life, free, of the ravages of codependency, and its resulting destruction? Whether we surrender to the fears of the false self, or readily embrace the freeing, adventures of  the mysterious, is a decision not easily made. We need grace. "Of ourselves we can do nothing, we can do all things  in The One,Who strengthens us".  I am in endless need of this consolation," Be not afraid I am with you."These words of scripture  demand the constant need of repetition, speaking for this   spiritual being, immersed in the human condition. (DeChardin) The living within the  weakened human condition, has it ever been more challenging ? Our decision for reluctant acceptance, springing from this existential battle battle, the battle between healthy choices, and  the enticing, ego building, co-dependent actions that reveal, dis-ease.  Recognition of the depth of co-dependent behaviors is the first step  into the evolution of  a healthy, shepherd. We need a daily check on the death-dealing effects of codependency.What a blessing, and a curse, free will has turned out to be ???  Yet, that is the way we roll, as human, beings.  As it was,  is now, and ever shall be.....  Do I get an, AMEN ???             

 In all the pregnancies of our ever new awarenesses , there is the resulting birthing of  realities whose presences are slowly revealed. I am always amazed at what bubbles up, and when it bubbles up. I find deep truth in the bromide," You are getting what you need, NOT, what you want". Paired with that is, "want what you have, and you discover you have what you, want,"  Gandhi's  unsettling wisdom, " God takes care of our needs, not, our greed." Our codependent selves demand the fulfillment of our every desire, no matter how sick, unhealthy it may be. The shepherding of, The Good Shepherd awaits our willingness, to willing to enter,  what ? The Graced Unknown. We are the  lambs, sheep, and shepherds, of a flock,  chosen. Chosen when ? Not the day of conception, of birthing, our "flock-e-ness finds its origin in The Eternal Now. Mystery ever abounds.

  Eternity is our origin and destiny. We are being shepherded  by and as The Chosen Beloved, so our journey, of its essence, will  not be easy. During our journey, we will be used to continue the revelation of a Reality, never fully understand, or comprehended. This is heavy stuff ? Very mysterious, is one way to attempt to describe our journey as lambs, sheep, and shepherds. Remember we can NEVER solve the mystery, we are drawn ever deeper into the mysterious. With each journey, new awarenesses  seem to bubble up. Whether welcomed, or un-welcomed,  they are there to be reverenced, to be accepted.  In the gradual acceptance, there comes a unique challenge. Today we are faced with the moment to moment challenge of being, both prophetic shepherd and flocks. The call to be both shepherd and prophet is the emerging challenge we have accept. See how extraordinary well the people of Minneapolis has modeled this. What price they paid for faithfulness ???  Like all vocations there must be an ongoing formation. Being led from the known, through threatening storms of change , to the emerging newnesses of understanding is ? Write your answer ?  My answer is not your answer. Your answer is not mine. In the exchange of truths there is mysterious happenings.All designed for our ongoing formation, and transformation. ENDLESS, ENDLESSLY !!!! 

A prophetic, non-codependent  shepherd has the challenges of double duty. As was mentioned previously, the shepherd has to be shepherded. He must be seen as belonging to the flock, as well. As shepherded,  so will the shepherd, shepherd. " He who has not been in the desert, cannot lead others, out of the desert", is a startling truth that really challenges. What are your experiences of loss, failure, rejection, humiliation, darkness, abandonment ? How have they been welcomed, owned, embraced, and accepted ? What work, what nagging, uncertainties ,  are still  awaiting the transformative power of The Resurrected Christ ? We are are endlessly blessed (??), with emerging formation ,for the existential challenge. How, through, what concrete steps is the shepherdness of your being,  being,  shepherded ? Love, prayers and blessing. GGJ.