Wednesday, January 8, 2014

My...Wish...An...Awe-full...2014

                Yes, my wish for all is that your 2014 may be an awe-full year, not an awesome one. May each and every moment be, what it is intended to be, full of awe, full of Mystery. May this year bring you to the realization that of your essence, you are an awe-full reality. Because of The Mystery being within, we are in the midst of celebrating, "there is nothing profane for her/him who knows how to see." Because of the advent of The Word, into His own creation, the  whole meaning of creation is radically changed.  A dignity, previously hinted at, is now revealed, presented to us, in its mysterious wonder-full-ness. This cannot be achieved with natural sight, so we have been gifted and blessed with the gift of wonder. This gift of The Holy Spirit empowers us  to grow in awe-full awareness of the "grandeur of God," hidden and revealed in all that is in us and surrounds us. The Incarnation, God coming in flesh to pitch His tent among us, confers an inner, invisible dimension of mystery to all that is. "Everything that is, is to be adored" (St. Francis), and in that act of adoration, "new heavens and a new earth," is revealed to us. What a gift that is offered to you and me? A gift which is endless, in its benevolence, in its generosity, because its source is, Infinite Love.

                Just because we are offered a gift, that does not mean we have to accept it. If we accept a gift, it does not mean we have to put that gift to the use it was intended. A decision has to be made by the recipient, which is you and I. We have to decide whether to say "Yes" or "No." In the realm of the spiritual annunciating that "Yes" leads us in ways and to places previously unknown. That is why it is so much safer, and easier on the ego to say, "no." Now I can stay put, in the safety of the familiar. I am not opening myself up to any unnecessary risks. Everyday living is challenging enough. However, this is not living, it is existing. We are called to live life and live it to the fullest. Entering into the fullness of life DEMANDS that we take risks. It demands courage on our part to face the inherent challenge and danger "of living life on life's terms."

                Mary had no clue where her "Yes" was going to take her. We, being the contemporary Marys, do not know where our "yes" to the demands of the present, will lead us to. I am wrong there.  Actually we do know.  All we have to do is read and reflect on the Gospels and there we have the outline of our lives. Living each moment, not just existing in each moment, fills in the details of our personal Gospel. While the outline is the same, the details, the actions will be different as we write our personal Gospel. Each and every action, person, place, event, are gathered into a unity and so become the gospel of, a contemporary Christmas.  We reflect on the Gospels; we are challenged to encounter Mary, Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, the Three Kings, Herod (Yep he must be encountered, if we are to be really real). Within us and the life we live, we will also encounter Judas, The Pharisees, The Scribes, Pontius Pilate, and all those unsavory characters depicted in the events of The Passion.  ALL, yes all, will have to encountered and eventually embraced with a mercy-full, healing, soothing, comforting love.  We are challenged to love the way our Gracious and Prodigal Father-God does.  This sounds impossible, way beyond anything we can do, and so it is. It was apparently impossible for a virgin to conceive, and old woman to also conceive, but it happened. How?  "With God all things are possible," whereas "by ourselves we can do nothing, but we can do all things in Him who strengthens us." The scriptures tell us that our God "lavishes His love" upon us. I like that word "lavish."  There is nothing small, mean, or tightfisted about lavish.  The God of lavishness does not impart the minimum on us, His beloved. On the contrary, because we are the beloved, and ever will be, He fills up our cup, not just to the brim, but to the point of brimming over.  There is nothing small about God.  If my God is small, then that is the result of the smallness of my mind. Big hearted people seem to communicate a larger than life God, as so indeed He/She is.

                Left to our unenlightened, natural hearts, souls, and minds the great deep, mysterious reality of who we are and that which lies deep within, will not come to consciousness. It will remain dormant, unawakened in the unconscious. There it will remain, like all buried treasure waiting to be discovered. Yes, it waits, there  in the darkness of the humus, in the darkness of the earth.  This treasure can only be discovered, through the action of digging, going deep, under the guidance of The Holy Spirit. We are therefore called to journey within into the earthiness of who we are, seeing through the x-ray  eye of faith. This is a long journey.  A journey that will only end at our deaths.  On this journey we will encounter death many, many times, as it were, rehearsals for the final encounter.

                This journey is no quiet stroll in the park, on the contrary.  If Yeats is to be believed, and others concur, "it takes reckless courage to journey into the depths of who we are as human beings." Let us not be caught up in fear about this perilous journey.  There will always be a tiny point of light there to guide us on our way.  We all have our own personal star guiding us to our own personal Bethlehem. As we come to discover The Christ Child within, our lives are radically changed.  We will now journey by new roads, and traverse landscapes hitherto the unknown.  As we journey with new insights, as it were, with this new lenses, we will lead to encounter never before realities. New vistas will open up before us. These vistas will be full of mystery, awe, and wonder.  We will find ourselves lost in the awe-full-ness of  breathless silence.

                      

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