Towards...A...New...Gospel..

"Climb the mountain and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The wind will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like falling leaves." John Muir one of the wildernesses greatest champion penned this many years ago. Today, more than ever we desperately need to take his advice. We as individuals, families and nation are in great need of a source of peace. A source that will touch our, hearts, souls and minds. A source that will be available to all and at a great price. Mother nature surrounds us with her many, many gifts. These vivifying, transforming gifts are offered to each of us free of charge. Are these gifts always accepted? Unfortunately, no, is the sad answer. As human beings we are endowed with the gift of free will. We for our part , have been given the freedom to enjoy, celebrate or ignore. Why is it that these gifts are so ignored? Very simple these wonder-full gifts have become so familiar, we have lost the ability and the desire to delve into the wonder, The Mystery both hidden and revealed in that which is real. We, as members of the human race ,of our essence, are religious. (Again, this is what I had to learn early on in the priesthood: "You do not put religion into humankind, you create that which will free that which is already within. As it was so it is, and ever shall be.) We all called to encounter The Mystery, The Real. Because of this encounter we are slowly led to an ever deepening awareness of the sacredness of, the real. We will be drawn into an ever deeper encounter with the mystery that lies deep within. If it lies deep within, then it only stands to reason we will have to go deep. Nothing of value will come to us unless the take that risk of plunging into the depths. We will also come to realize we are somehow hardwired, designed, programmed for this inner journey. It is our real destiny and the real source of our peace and happiness. Apart from this journey there is no lasting peace, there is no lasting happiness. I really enjoy the following words of Bishop Desmond Tutu, spoken in 1994. "We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautify sunsets, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew…Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truth-full…and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things." Blessed Mother Theresa is quoted as saying; "We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature-trees, flowers, grow in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls." All of the above is good news. This is the good news that must be announced, broadcasted to our desperate world. This is one aspect of The New Evangelization we are now being introduced to. More on that in the weeks to come. Our world is desperate, just as we are, for that which will connect the reality of the human experience, with The Sacred, Who The Source of all reality. This connection will release a new sense of wholeness. A new sense of holiness, leading to celebrations that celebrate the presence of The Sacred in all that is. We then will no longer have liturgies, celebrations without soul. These community celebrations will speak to the depths of our being. We will become more and more at home with who we are, what is happening in our immediate universe. These celebrations will foster a faith, renewed belief in the goodness of all that is. We will begin to see our world, and all creation through a new set of lenses. We will accept our dignity, and responsibility to be so-creators, and co-perfectors on an ever evolving creation. This may sound like a dream, right? No this is not a dream. This is the reality that can be ours as when we let go of fear and trust the Holy Spirit as it blows ever new over what we may seem to be chaos. The Spirit, unfettered by the restrictions imposed by the fear-full, works wonders with, and within the chaos. The Spirit has been dealing with chaos since the beginning of time, right? Is it not until we accept, surrender to that terrible reality that we are powerlessness over the chaos of our lives will we ever enter into that place where the Spirit is free to make all things new. Not give us anything new. Our lives will be somewhat the same, only somehow different. It takes time to adjust to the newness, for ourselves, and those who sure our lives. If this process does not happen then that which comes to us from the Cree Nation will become our personal reality and the cosmic reality; "Only when the last river has been polluted, and the last tree has been cut, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize we cannot eat money."