When there is an ending in your life, there is always a new beginning for you and I. A new set of lenses are now ours because of the of the loss. I have always believed that death leads us to question the authenticity of our own existence. It makes us question that which is of real lasting value. Loss makes us reflect on the value of what cannot be seen, but only felt. Loss and feelings are a tough mix. We do not always allow ourselves the gift of grieving the loss. We never, then come to be blessed by all that we have been blessed with, because of the time spent with that which has now a new, and transformed existence. We are in the need of lenses which enables us, upon reflection, to become more and more aware of all the blessings which are now our because of the life that has now supposedly ended. Life as we now know it has no beginning, and no end.
We have come from the Eternal Life Community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We share that eternal life, and love always and everywhere. We need people in our lives that are constant reminders of who we are as the beloved. The following is from Henri Nowen's book "Life of the Beloved" and I, find it so appropriate at this time.
"Let me first tell you what I mean by the word "blessing" In Latin, to bless is "benedicere". The word 'benediction' that is used in many churches means literally: speaking (dictio) well (bene) or saying good things of someone. That speaks to me. I need to hear good things said of me, and I know how much you have the same need. Nowadays, we often say: "We have to affirm each other". Without affirmation, it is hard to live well. To give someone a blessing is the most significant affirmation we can offer. It is more than a word of praise or appreciation; it is more than pointing out someone's talents or
good deeds; it is more than putting someone in the light. To give a blessing is to, say "yes" to a person's "Belovedness". And more than that: To give a blessing creates the reality of which it speaks. There is a lot of mutual admiration in this world, as there is a lot of mutual condemnation. A blessing goes beyond the distinction between admiration and condemnation, between virtues or vices, between good deeds or evil deeds. A blessing touches the original touches the original goodness of the other and calls forth his or her Belovedness......"
The blessing that we give to each other are expressions of the blessing that rests on us from all of eternity. It is the deepest affirmation of our true self. It is not enough to be chosen. We also need an ongoing blessing that allows to hear in an ever-new way we belong to a loving God who will never leave us alone, but will remind us always that we are guided by love on every step of our lives.....
The movement of God's Spirit is very gentle very soft --- and hidden. I does not seek attention. But that movement is also very persistent, strong and deep. It changes our hearts radically."
When was the last time you reflected on those who have blessed you?
When was the last time you blessed your children?
I can hear some say, "It is not a blessing I want to give that kid", he is that same baby you got up to feed in the middle of the night. Were you not blessed by those moments of mystery, when life’s nourishment flowed from you, to the newest manifestation on the Divine Presence? What has happened in the meantime? No matter what has happened in the family dynamic, that child is still, and will ever be the Beloved of our common Source of Being. It again goes back to the lenses we are looking through.
Have you ever asked for your child's blessing?
I wonder what would that do to the relationship? It would be a moment, of Mystery, being present, and wonder felt. Each person has the God given power to bless . In the Summer time of some laughter, peace, and quiet, why not add to these good feelings. Why not make prayers of shared blessing
an important, no, an essential part of the life you share with those God has chosen to journey with.. You are beloved, they share the same belovedness , why not celebrate, on a regular basis that which you have most in common? Let us celebrate what we have in common, rather that wasting time wishing and wanting for what is not there. God is not present in the wishing and wanting, God is only present in the realty of the, HERE and Now.
As I look back on my life, I am caught up in gratitude for all those people, places, and events, who have been a source of blessing for me. I encourage you to do the same. As you come to accept the blessings received, with that comes the belief, "how blessed I am". Now share that blessedness with those your God places in your life, and the process begins all over again. What great faith and trust our God has in us? Then on the other hand, what are we to expect from The Beloved of that self same God.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
A Truthful Prophet.....Tribute to Dolly Echeverria
Many years ago we were told in college there was no church like the American church when it came to care, concern, commitment, and support. Sitting in my desk and hearing that, a light came on. That light has, to be honest, dimmed a little from time to time. Those words, said with such conviction has been always a beacon of hope, over these many years. The American church, has been lucky, can we say- blessed, to have people such as Dolly Echeverria..... The Faith Community of St. Andrew the Apostle, has been birthed, nourished, strengthened, and led to a growing maturity, by her tenacity and good-will. We were never warned, in our formation, about women like Dolly. We were on the other hand, warned about women, the opposite of Dolly. Strong women, which are women with strong voices, were not part of our training. Strong women were not a very visible presence with the Catholic Church in Ireland. In our history, we did have strong presences like St Brigit of Kildare. Some go so far as to say, she was a bishop, ordained, of course, by mistake.
In 1963, I was introduced, right away, to the power of an organized woman, with the ability to lead - Margaret King, may she rest in peace, was an executive with a very large company. I was given the responsibility for, what in those days was called, C.C.D.. I cannot remember how she came to volunteer, but I know she stepped forward, and was the parish blessed. Margaret showed how a person was able to take the skills of the workplace and use them for the betterment of the church. Dolly did the same. She demanded, from those who were in leadership roles in the faith community, the same standard of excellence she demanded of herself.
Today I am convinced every priest is in the need of a Dolly in his life, to keep him grounded, and connected. Grounded in his faith, and intimately connected with reality. We, as priests, can become very isolated. We are known then to be a sacristy priest. People such as Dolly blew that out of the water, as far as I was concerned. Whenever she began a sentence with the word “Joe”, I knew I was in for a “realty check”. I was going to get that reality check, whether I liked it or not. To be honest, there were times I received an ear full, of what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear. No gossip…. just the facts.
Was I always happy about what Dolly had to say ? Of course not. My big fat Irish ego, did not take too kindly to the truth. You know what they say, “the truth will set you free, but first it will tee you off". When I had some alone time and was given the opportunity to reflect on what was said, I was faced with the question of “why was I angry?”. What was the perceived threat to my control? What was the fear that I had to face ? What was risk involved in, not only thinking about a new way of being, and doing in the church, but actually going ahead and taking the required action.
Someone has written, “There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being to able to stick with them through
popular and unpopular times, is the characteristic of a great leader."
Dolly led by example. No one was asked to do anything, that was not backed by her wisdom, and self sacrificing dedication. What is that old saying, "A woman is like a tea bag, you do not know her strength, until she is in hot water”. Dolly you were a strong dose of tea, brewed in the hot desert sun. You gave strength, and nourishment to so many. You were a voice for the voiceless. You were a beacon of strength for the powerless. You were a challenge to those who would use power for self gain. You held ALL leadership responsible to Gospel values - "When shall we see the like again."
There is that Jewish saying, " God cannot be everywhere, so that is why He created mothers". Mothers reveal to us an ever present love. They shepherd us, so we can come to the belief in that the Good Shepherd never leaves any one of His flock untended. A mother's love , commitment, and unswerving loyalty, makes it possible for us to believe in the unconditioned, unlimited, and unrestricted love of a God we cannot feel, hear, taste, or touch. He is after all, Spirit. He has however entered into the human condition. He has freely chosen the fully human person, however, to be his revelation.
St. Irenaeus wrote, "The glory of God is the human person fully alive." What an alive woman she was. Authentic human beings like Dolly make God look real good.
"There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of Heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity." Washington Irving
In 1963, I was introduced, right away, to the power of an organized woman, with the ability to lead - Margaret King, may she rest in peace, was an executive with a very large company. I was given the responsibility for, what in those days was called, C.C.D.. I cannot remember how she came to volunteer, but I know she stepped forward, and was the parish blessed. Margaret showed how a person was able to take the skills of the workplace and use them for the betterment of the church. Dolly did the same. She demanded, from those who were in leadership roles in the faith community, the same standard of excellence she demanded of herself.
Today I am convinced every priest is in the need of a Dolly in his life, to keep him grounded, and connected. Grounded in his faith, and intimately connected with reality. We, as priests, can become very isolated. We are known then to be a sacristy priest. People such as Dolly blew that out of the water, as far as I was concerned. Whenever she began a sentence with the word “Joe”, I knew I was in for a “realty check”. I was going to get that reality check, whether I liked it or not. To be honest, there were times I received an ear full, of what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear. No gossip…. just the facts.
Was I always happy about what Dolly had to say ? Of course not. My big fat Irish ego, did not take too kindly to the truth. You know what they say, “the truth will set you free, but first it will tee you off". When I had some alone time and was given the opportunity to reflect on what was said, I was faced with the question of “why was I angry?”. What was the perceived threat to my control? What was the fear that I had to face ? What was risk involved in, not only thinking about a new way of being, and doing in the church, but actually going ahead and taking the required action.
Someone has written, “There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being to able to stick with them through
popular and unpopular times, is the characteristic of a great leader."
Dolly led by example. No one was asked to do anything, that was not backed by her wisdom, and self sacrificing dedication. What is that old saying, "A woman is like a tea bag, you do not know her strength, until she is in hot water”. Dolly you were a strong dose of tea, brewed in the hot desert sun. You gave strength, and nourishment to so many. You were a voice for the voiceless. You were a beacon of strength for the powerless. You were a challenge to those who would use power for self gain. You held ALL leadership responsible to Gospel values - "When shall we see the like again."
There is that Jewish saying, " God cannot be everywhere, so that is why He created mothers". Mothers reveal to us an ever present love. They shepherd us, so we can come to the belief in that the Good Shepherd never leaves any one of His flock untended. A mother's love , commitment, and unswerving loyalty, makes it possible for us to believe in the unconditioned, unlimited, and unrestricted love of a God we cannot feel, hear, taste, or touch. He is after all, Spirit. He has however entered into the human condition. He has freely chosen the fully human person, however, to be his revelation.
St. Irenaeus wrote, "The glory of God is the human person fully alive." What an alive woman she was. Authentic human beings like Dolly make God look real good.
"There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of Heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity." Washington Irving
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Freedom.....Is not Free
This weekend our thoughts are directed towards freedom and independence. We are reminded of all those who risked a limited freedom, so that we can live out our lives in real freedom. Those who have gone before, risked and sacrificed that which was nearest and dearest. We today can enjoy the presence of our nearest and dearest in comfort and security. Freedom is not free, we have been so often told. It comes at a price. We thank those who have paid the price. I really don’t feel those two little words "Thank You" can in any way fill up what was taken away in the hell, that is war. “Thank you" will never take the place of missing limbs, wrecked loves, lives, and homes. Can "Thank You" restore the mind shattered by the sounds of battle? How about the minds that have gone to war, and cannot even understand the words, "I Love You". Will those two words be enough for the family and dear ones, who now have to adjust to the many unseen and unrecognized domestic challenges. There is a debt that cannot be paid in monetary terms. We have to pray, that in the realm of the spirit peace, comfort and joy, may come to all those endure the rigors of war.
We are all seeking and searching for freedom, a freedom that will last. I came across the following, written by Thomas Merton: “New Seeds of Contemplation"
"In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadow of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities, and there is no joy in things that do not exist.
As soon as you begin to take yourself seriously and imagine that your virtues are important because they are yours, you become a prisoner of your own vanity, and your best works will blind and deceive you. Then, in order to defend yourself, you will begin to see the sins and faults everywhere in the action of all other men. And, the more unreasonable importance you attach to yourself and to your works, the more you will tend to build up your idea of yourself by condemning other people.
Sometimes virtuous men are bitter and unhappy, because they have unconsciously come to believe that all their happiness depends on they being more virtuous than others."
One does not have look very far in today's world to see anger, fear, quick judgment, denial of who really is my brother, and the outright rejection of Matt 25. The following is really challenging, and will upset rigid thought, and settled judgments. That is why religiosity is so easy, and spirituality is such a challenge. Starting from the moment we read this, if each of us make a solemn pledge to live by these principles, would we ever go to war again. I am not just speaking of countries going to war. I am speaking of the wars that we enter into in our own hearts, souls and minds . I am referring to the family wars, parish wars, and all those wars we enter into because we do not, or choose not make the following a litmus test for the journey, as the contemporary Christ.
"If a man has to be pleasing to me, comforting, reassuring, before I can love him, then I cannot truly love him. Not that we cannot console or reassure! But if I demand first to be reassured, I will never dare to begin loving. If a man has to be a Jew or a Christian before I can love him, then I cannot love him. If he has to black or white before I can love him, then I cannot love him. If he has to belong to my political party or social group before I can love him, if he has to wear any kind of uniform, then my love is no longer love, because it is not free: it is dictated by something outside of itself. It is dominated by an appetite other than love. I love not the person but his classification, and in that event I love him not as a person but as a thing. In this way I remain at the mercy of forces outside myself, and those who seem to be neighbors are indeed strangers; for I am, first of all, a stranger to myself.” Season of Celebration, Thomas Merton.
With real freedom comes real responsibility. How responsible am i going to be in the use of my freedom? Will it be used to give life, as I love as Christ loved? Will I use my freedom to be a " death dealer," as I live my live in cruel and harsh judgments, devoid of mercy and compassion. We are all called to live in the freedom of us being beloved daughters and sons. Not to live in fear, as slaves, but in the freedom of being spiritual beings having a human experience.
Aye!! There is the rub!
So then, this prepares us to reflect more deeply on the opening prayer of this weekend's celebration;
"Father, in the rising of your son, death gives birth to new life. The sufferings He endured restored hope to a fallen world. Let sin never ensnare us with empty promises of passing joy. Make us one with you always, so that our joy may be holy, and our love may give life."
We are all seeking and searching for freedom, a freedom that will last. I came across the following, written by Thomas Merton: “New Seeds of Contemplation"
"In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadow of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities, and there is no joy in things that do not exist.
As soon as you begin to take yourself seriously and imagine that your virtues are important because they are yours, you become a prisoner of your own vanity, and your best works will blind and deceive you. Then, in order to defend yourself, you will begin to see the sins and faults everywhere in the action of all other men. And, the more unreasonable importance you attach to yourself and to your works, the more you will tend to build up your idea of yourself by condemning other people.
Sometimes virtuous men are bitter and unhappy, because they have unconsciously come to believe that all their happiness depends on they being more virtuous than others."
One does not have look very far in today's world to see anger, fear, quick judgment, denial of who really is my brother, and the outright rejection of Matt 25. The following is really challenging, and will upset rigid thought, and settled judgments. That is why religiosity is so easy, and spirituality is such a challenge. Starting from the moment we read this, if each of us make a solemn pledge to live by these principles, would we ever go to war again. I am not just speaking of countries going to war. I am speaking of the wars that we enter into in our own hearts, souls and minds . I am referring to the family wars, parish wars, and all those wars we enter into because we do not, or choose not make the following a litmus test for the journey, as the contemporary Christ.
"If a man has to be pleasing to me, comforting, reassuring, before I can love him, then I cannot truly love him. Not that we cannot console or reassure! But if I demand first to be reassured, I will never dare to begin loving. If a man has to be a Jew or a Christian before I can love him, then I cannot love him. If he has to black or white before I can love him, then I cannot love him. If he has to belong to my political party or social group before I can love him, if he has to wear any kind of uniform, then my love is no longer love, because it is not free: it is dictated by something outside of itself. It is dominated by an appetite other than love. I love not the person but his classification, and in that event I love him not as a person but as a thing. In this way I remain at the mercy of forces outside myself, and those who seem to be neighbors are indeed strangers; for I am, first of all, a stranger to myself.” Season of Celebration, Thomas Merton.
With real freedom comes real responsibility. How responsible am i going to be in the use of my freedom? Will it be used to give life, as I love as Christ loved? Will I use my freedom to be a " death dealer," as I live my live in cruel and harsh judgments, devoid of mercy and compassion. We are all called to live in the freedom of us being beloved daughters and sons. Not to live in fear, as slaves, but in the freedom of being spiritual beings having a human experience.
Aye!! There is the rub!
So then, this prepares us to reflect more deeply on the opening prayer of this weekend's celebration;
"Father, in the rising of your son, death gives birth to new life. The sufferings He endured restored hope to a fallen world. Let sin never ensnare us with empty promises of passing joy. Make us one with you always, so that our joy may be holy, and our love may give life."
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Up the Mountain...
On Wednesday morning, as is my custom, I turned to the sports page. An article caught my eye. It was written as the result of the reporter having joined John Lott, the Phoenix Cardinals strength coach and his charges on a morning encounter with Camelback Mountain. There was something about that article that resonated with me. Well, I finished breakfast and went about my day. Wednesday is the day I make every effort to get serious about what is to go in to this effort. There were some thoughts swimming around in my head, yes there is a great deal of space in there. As usual when one looks at something long enough, there appears, out of where I do not know, an insight into the reality behind the reality. One could say, the spiritual meaning.
As the day went on, it became clear of the connection between what John Lott is aiming for with the Phoenix Cardinals, and the deeper meaning of our hike, which to my way of thinking, is the spiritual journey.
John’s vision for that journey up and down Camelback is a way to instill not only strength and endurance, but perseverance, as well. All of those qualities are necessary for a football team. These qualities are essential in the fourth quarter, when a vital stop has to be made, or a winning drive is demanded of he players. Then the memories of those moments when the desire of the limited body is crying out "QUIT", but a higher power, John Lott, would not allow that to happen.
So as on the mountain, so on the field, the player, gathers himself together, sucks it up. In this moment, of great struggle with human limitations, he somehow gathers a strength from that special place all where athletes want to go to. Something clicks, for him, which spreads to others. There is that voice which says, all those moments of painful struggle, in June, have prepared me for this. The ball is snapped, bodies and will collide, and the result is , not about winning or losing, it is about the honest and best effort. Those moments will forever be there in the athletes unconscious. At a later date in time when the best efforts, of an authentic human being is demanded then, this athlete, knows he has what it takes. He knows what it means to be in the "zone". In the language of the spiritual life, we call that serenity.
We do not have an opportunity, well at least most of us, to meet the challenge of Camelback every day. We are, however, presented with challenges far greater than what can be encountered there. We have to face loss of health and energy, personally or we are asked to journey with a loved one who today meets that challenge. The added burden of lack of employment, and health insurance adds to the anxiety and pain. The uncertainty in relationships, the pain of loss and betrayal, leaves so many human beings, to lead a life of victimhood, rather than the life of a survivor. Living life as a victim, is a life of pure hell. (My definition of hell: a place where there is no love.) There seems to be no hope, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is however that still, quiet voice that struggles from the depths to whisper, this is Not my lot in life. I have been called from all of eternity to live a life of freedom, not fear. I will be a survivor. In this encounter, the truth has been spoken. The lie has been named. Light has appeared out of the darkness. We have just experienced on a deeper level the journey of Jesus, which St. Luke introduces to us today. We are told "Jesus firmly resolved to proceed toward Jerusalem". Here is what Carroll Stuhlmueller has written: Luke's "journey narrative" is ..a symbolic way, a literary device, to combine several journeys, Jesus and OUR OWN, through the mystery of death- resurrection...The events in Jesus' ministry become the way by which we follow as disciples. ... Luke, therefore, wants to jar us into the realization that this is OUR journey, so that the passion and resurrection of Jesus becomes a living, transforming reality within us.
As the day went on, it became clear of the connection between what John Lott is aiming for with the Phoenix Cardinals, and the deeper meaning of our hike, which to my way of thinking, is the spiritual journey.
John’s vision for that journey up and down Camelback is a way to instill not only strength and endurance, but perseverance, as well. All of those qualities are necessary for a football team. These qualities are essential in the fourth quarter, when a vital stop has to be made, or a winning drive is demanded of he players. Then the memories of those moments when the desire of the limited body is crying out "QUIT", but a higher power, John Lott, would not allow that to happen.
So as on the mountain, so on the field, the player, gathers himself together, sucks it up. In this moment, of great struggle with human limitations, he somehow gathers a strength from that special place all where athletes want to go to. Something clicks, for him, which spreads to others. There is that voice which says, all those moments of painful struggle, in June, have prepared me for this. The ball is snapped, bodies and will collide, and the result is , not about winning or losing, it is about the honest and best effort. Those moments will forever be there in the athletes unconscious. At a later date in time when the best efforts, of an authentic human being is demanded then, this athlete, knows he has what it takes. He knows what it means to be in the "zone". In the language of the spiritual life, we call that serenity.
We do not have an opportunity, well at least most of us, to meet the challenge of Camelback every day. We are, however, presented with challenges far greater than what can be encountered there. We have to face loss of health and energy, personally or we are asked to journey with a loved one who today meets that challenge. The added burden of lack of employment, and health insurance adds to the anxiety and pain. The uncertainty in relationships, the pain of loss and betrayal, leaves so many human beings, to lead a life of victimhood, rather than the life of a survivor. Living life as a victim, is a life of pure hell. (My definition of hell: a place where there is no love.) There seems to be no hope, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is however that still, quiet voice that struggles from the depths to whisper, this is Not my lot in life. I have been called from all of eternity to live a life of freedom, not fear. I will be a survivor. In this encounter, the truth has been spoken. The lie has been named. Light has appeared out of the darkness. We have just experienced on a deeper level the journey of Jesus, which St. Luke introduces to us today. We are told "Jesus firmly resolved to proceed toward Jerusalem". Here is what Carroll Stuhlmueller has written: Luke's "journey narrative" is ..a symbolic way, a literary device, to combine several journeys, Jesus and OUR OWN, through the mystery of death- resurrection...The events in Jesus' ministry become the way by which we follow as disciples. ... Luke, therefore, wants to jar us into the realization that this is OUR journey, so that the passion and resurrection of Jesus becomes a living, transforming reality within us.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Daddyhood...Fatherhood...A Sacrament.
I, know this will come as a great shock to many of you, I got into some trouble when I was a kid. Maybe, I got into A LOT of trouble when was a kid? Maybe, I STILL get into trouble, after all, a leopard does not change it's spots, right? Well, one day, of many, I got into trouble. This was relayed to my Dad by the family historian, my mother. Well I received my punishment and was not in a very happy mood. A few hours later I met Dad, and he reminded me that Castletownroche was playing in the Cahirmee Tournament that evening. Did I have to be reminded that the Pope, was Catholic? What he said next has stayed with me over the all years, he told me that he and I were going to the match. Was I surprised? No….I was shocked! My Dad had that great father energy, he challenged me on my mistakes, but, he was gentle, when it mattered.
God...Father... Abba... Daddy..are are all very simple words we use to describe the Incomprehensible, the Ineffable, the Infinite. William Wadsworth wrote "Father to God Himself we cannot give a holier name”. It was that familiar, and intimate word ,"ABBA, that Jesus The Christ choose to describe Him with whom He had such a strengthening, and nourishing relationship. It was this Abba with whom He chose to spend countless days and hours with. It was to purify the knowledge, and relationship that He spent 40 days in a desert experience. It was with this Abba He spent many nights away from those He ministered to, and those whom He was in the process of forming. It was to quiet places He went, when He had to face great decisions. It was in the silence of mountains He lost Himself, so as to find the wisdom, strength, and spiritual nourishment which would give direction to His journey within the human condition. We read how as He returned from this alone time with, The Alone, there was a greater sense of conviction and urgency. There was a deeper commitment to His mission and ministry. He had to allow Himself, as we do, to be gently guided into and ever deepening understanding of what it meant to be The Beloved Son, of Him, whom He had the courage to call, Abba. We have to remember that in the historical time in which Jesus lived, His fellow Jews would not so much as mouth the word God. Now here we have this radical who wants to call the God whose name we cannot speak, His Abba. No wonder they wanted to kill Him.
I have often reflected on the relationship between Jesus and Joseph. What was the dynamic that enabled, that allowed Jesus to make the connection between His understanding of His God and that of the human person He called, father. What did He experience with Joseph that moved Him to realize, this is what I have with my God. What was the feeling when He first spoke openly of what was HIS DEEP AND INTIMATE feelings. He from the way He spoke forever changed the dynamic between His Abba, and us, His fellow human beings? On one side. we have the infinite, on the other side we have the finite, and the word to be the bridge to the gap is, Daddy. In that simple, little word, the divine is perfectly hidden and revealed.
What a great challenge lies on the shoulders of those who wear the mantle of, Dad. Any one of the male gender can become a father, many times this is unfortunately true, but it takes a special person to become a Dad. A Dad, is a sacrament. Yes, each and every Dad is an ever new revelation of our heavenly Abba. What we have in our relationship with our Dads, is what we are going to have with our Infinite Heavenly father. Daddyhood, fatherhood, always human. always frail, is the instrument our God has chosen, and continues to choose, to reveal to you and I, the mystery of who we are in His love. As we are growing in the experience of being the beloved of our dads ,so we can come to believe we are also the beloved of our Heavenly father.
Where such a relationship is not our experience, we must allow ourselves to grieve for what is not there, for what is missing. Then, when we have done the feeling process, (feel experience, express, and only then, let go) we ask our God to fill up the emptiness. This has to be repeated, again and again. NOTHING is done in the spiritual life, once and forever. This is a lesson we must learn. Some of us have to learn the hard way, of continuous pain and turmoil. When we are faithful to the process, then blessing do appear. The choice is ours.
The following is a country song, that can comfort and console.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrTidoW2Erc
God...Father... Abba... Daddy..are are all very simple words we use to describe the Incomprehensible, the Ineffable, the Infinite. William Wadsworth wrote "Father to God Himself we cannot give a holier name”. It was that familiar, and intimate word ,"ABBA, that Jesus The Christ choose to describe Him with whom He had such a strengthening, and nourishing relationship. It was this Abba with whom He chose to spend countless days and hours with. It was to purify the knowledge, and relationship that He spent 40 days in a desert experience. It was with this Abba He spent many nights away from those He ministered to, and those whom He was in the process of forming. It was to quiet places He went, when He had to face great decisions. It was in the silence of mountains He lost Himself, so as to find the wisdom, strength, and spiritual nourishment which would give direction to His journey within the human condition. We read how as He returned from this alone time with, The Alone, there was a greater sense of conviction and urgency. There was a deeper commitment to His mission and ministry. He had to allow Himself, as we do, to be gently guided into and ever deepening understanding of what it meant to be The Beloved Son, of Him, whom He had the courage to call, Abba. We have to remember that in the historical time in which Jesus lived, His fellow Jews would not so much as mouth the word God. Now here we have this radical who wants to call the God whose name we cannot speak, His Abba. No wonder they wanted to kill Him.
I have often reflected on the relationship between Jesus and Joseph. What was the dynamic that enabled, that allowed Jesus to make the connection between His understanding of His God and that of the human person He called, father. What did He experience with Joseph that moved Him to realize, this is what I have with my God. What was the feeling when He first spoke openly of what was HIS DEEP AND INTIMATE feelings. He from the way He spoke forever changed the dynamic between His Abba, and us, His fellow human beings? On one side. we have the infinite, on the other side we have the finite, and the word to be the bridge to the gap is, Daddy. In that simple, little word, the divine is perfectly hidden and revealed.
What a great challenge lies on the shoulders of those who wear the mantle of, Dad. Any one of the male gender can become a father, many times this is unfortunately true, but it takes a special person to become a Dad. A Dad, is a sacrament. Yes, each and every Dad is an ever new revelation of our heavenly Abba. What we have in our relationship with our Dads, is what we are going to have with our Infinite Heavenly father. Daddyhood, fatherhood, always human. always frail, is the instrument our God has chosen, and continues to choose, to reveal to you and I, the mystery of who we are in His love. As we are growing in the experience of being the beloved of our dads ,so we can come to believe we are also the beloved of our Heavenly father.
Where such a relationship is not our experience, we must allow ourselves to grieve for what is not there, for what is missing. Then, when we have done the feeling process, (feel experience, express, and only then, let go) we ask our God to fill up the emptiness. This has to be repeated, again and again. NOTHING is done in the spiritual life, once and forever. This is a lesson we must learn. Some of us have to learn the hard way, of continuous pain and turmoil. When we are faithful to the process, then blessing do appear. The choice is ours.
The following is a country song, that can comfort and console.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrTidoW2Erc
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Compassion.....Receiving to Give
This week, on Tuesday the 8th, I was lucky enough to celebrate 47 years, in this life I have been living, since I was 23. As I get to different milestones I find myself, like most people, reflecting on what has happened, and what is happening right now. You may well ask the question, "How about the future?". Well, at least for me, the struggle of the present, when your get up and go, has got up and gone, is more than enough challenge for me. When you get old, there is a hidden blessing, because the energy is not there any more, I now have made surviving the present moment my top priority. "Just this moment Lord, just this moment", is the measure of my prayer.
It is great to have no big plans on the horizon, just today, just this moment, is challenge enough for me. I find there is wonderful freedom in that mindset. Not much fodder for the ego, as a matter of fact there is no food for the ego. That does make the ego a very unhappy camper. When the ego is unhappy there is trouble on the horizon. In the meantime there is rest, peace, an appreciation of quiet, and an occasional sense of serenity. Maturing has its blessings. Do not get me wrong, I still have moments of anger, (I do not have to tell you that), wild dreams for the future, grandiosity, just to name a few. A real good dose of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, acts to blow those thoughts and plans to you know where. I have made the following words, of a Gaelic song, more my own each day:
"The cares of tomorrow must wait till this day is done." ''
So serious change has become an obvious reality for me.
The thought of change is now, ever before me. Change, has to do with loss, and gain. That which has been lost, can be more easily seen, and felt. All I have to do is look in the mirror, say two Masses in a row, eat after 5 o clock, and I will become well aware that there has been loss. What has been given, is much harder to decipher. That which has been given, to replace that which has been lost, is not seen in a mirror . It appears in moments of reflection. It appears as we reflect on the wonder-full ordinary moments, of our not so ordinary life. As you well know, there is no ordinary life. There is always the divine, the sacred, wanting to break through so as to say to you and I, you are God's story, right now. Your life right now is the only bible some people will ever get to read. How scary is that? That is how much confidence God places in each human being. He must know something we have yet to discover. This brings me to the idea behind this blog. (Took a long time to get to the point, you may well point out, and rightly so.)
I was reflecting on this question, "What is the one word that has become a life changing word, over the last 47 years?” That word has to be, COMPASSION. The last 47 years has seen me be ordained at the tail end of one understanding of church, and the appearance, under the guidance of The Holy Spirit, of a new and more challenging reality. I had to live, no, scratch that, I had to survive, through that liminal time, where one reality was replaced with another. It was a time of upheaval. For those who lived through the 60s and 70s, you know what I am speaking about….
You had the Vietnam Nam war, the appearance of the drug culture, everything was being questioned, and to top it off you were not going to live past, 30. That was a blessing, because “there was nobody over 30, that could be trusted”. There was radical change taking place, both inside and outside the church. Was it easy? Of course not!
We went from the objective, to the subjective. The story of each person was the story of God, and so demanded reverence. There were no longer any glib answers from some book. Each person had to be listened to, with compassion.
Where did that compassion come from? I was on the receiving end of the compassion of many individuals, both inside and outside the church community. There were compassionate people who afforded me a place to bring my weary and sometimes broken being, and rest awhile. They were not there to fix me, they were there to listen to me, and where necessary suffer with me, this is the true meaning of compassion. I was then able to move on, and in some cases struggle on, renewed in spirit. Looking back I can tell you from experience, there is no place to compare to that sanctuary where you can freely express your anxiety and fears, reveal who you really are, and not be judged, or condemned. That was the sacred place to bring the harsh judgments, the unrealized, impossible, broken dreams, and be received with tender care, no judgment, and a life giving love. The black and white life took on, many shaded of gray. I now look back and can see the truth in those words, "Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived'.
I am being led, to believe because of my own life's story, that to live the life our God wants us to live, we must immerse ourselves in the mystery of compassion. My list of compassionate fellow travelers is, a long list, and is being added to all the time. The older you get, the more compassion one needs to receive. The blessing that comes with that, is that now you have more compassion to share. We all need the compassion, to become the person our God intends us to be. In our moments of pain, we do not want glib answers, we want the presence of a real human, being present to us and with us. A person that says to us, "I do not have any answers but I am here for you. Is the okay?”.
That is everything, a human being can ever need. So then to realize our God's dream for us, The Aisling of God, as spiritual beings having a human experience, we need, no, we demand a great deal of compassion.
It is great to have no big plans on the horizon, just today, just this moment, is challenge enough for me. I find there is wonderful freedom in that mindset. Not much fodder for the ego, as a matter of fact there is no food for the ego. That does make the ego a very unhappy camper. When the ego is unhappy there is trouble on the horizon. In the meantime there is rest, peace, an appreciation of quiet, and an occasional sense of serenity. Maturing has its blessings. Do not get me wrong, I still have moments of anger, (I do not have to tell you that), wild dreams for the future, grandiosity, just to name a few. A real good dose of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, acts to blow those thoughts and plans to you know where. I have made the following words, of a Gaelic song, more my own each day:
"The cares of tomorrow must wait till this day is done." ''
So serious change has become an obvious reality for me.
The thought of change is now, ever before me. Change, has to do with loss, and gain. That which has been lost, can be more easily seen, and felt. All I have to do is look in the mirror, say two Masses in a row, eat after 5 o clock, and I will become well aware that there has been loss. What has been given, is much harder to decipher. That which has been given, to replace that which has been lost, is not seen in a mirror . It appears in moments of reflection. It appears as we reflect on the wonder-full ordinary moments, of our not so ordinary life. As you well know, there is no ordinary life. There is always the divine, the sacred, wanting to break through so as to say to you and I, you are God's story, right now. Your life right now is the only bible some people will ever get to read. How scary is that? That is how much confidence God places in each human being. He must know something we have yet to discover. This brings me to the idea behind this blog. (Took a long time to get to the point, you may well point out, and rightly so.)
I was reflecting on this question, "What is the one word that has become a life changing word, over the last 47 years?” That word has to be, COMPASSION. The last 47 years has seen me be ordained at the tail end of one understanding of church, and the appearance, under the guidance of The Holy Spirit, of a new and more challenging reality. I had to live, no, scratch that, I had to survive, through that liminal time, where one reality was replaced with another. It was a time of upheaval. For those who lived through the 60s and 70s, you know what I am speaking about….
You had the Vietnam Nam war, the appearance of the drug culture, everything was being questioned, and to top it off you were not going to live past, 30. That was a blessing, because “there was nobody over 30, that could be trusted”. There was radical change taking place, both inside and outside the church. Was it easy? Of course not!
We went from the objective, to the subjective. The story of each person was the story of God, and so demanded reverence. There were no longer any glib answers from some book. Each person had to be listened to, with compassion.
Where did that compassion come from? I was on the receiving end of the compassion of many individuals, both inside and outside the church community. There were compassionate people who afforded me a place to bring my weary and sometimes broken being, and rest awhile. They were not there to fix me, they were there to listen to me, and where necessary suffer with me, this is the true meaning of compassion. I was then able to move on, and in some cases struggle on, renewed in spirit. Looking back I can tell you from experience, there is no place to compare to that sanctuary where you can freely express your anxiety and fears, reveal who you really are, and not be judged, or condemned. That was the sacred place to bring the harsh judgments, the unrealized, impossible, broken dreams, and be received with tender care, no judgment, and a life giving love. The black and white life took on, many shaded of gray. I now look back and can see the truth in those words, "Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived'.
I am being led, to believe because of my own life's story, that to live the life our God wants us to live, we must immerse ourselves in the mystery of compassion. My list of compassionate fellow travelers is, a long list, and is being added to all the time. The older you get, the more compassion one needs to receive. The blessing that comes with that, is that now you have more compassion to share. We all need the compassion, to become the person our God intends us to be. In our moments of pain, we do not want glib answers, we want the presence of a real human, being present to us and with us. A person that says to us, "I do not have any answers but I am here for you. Is the okay?”.
That is everything, a human being can ever need. So then to realize our God's dream for us, The Aisling of God, as spiritual beings having a human experience, we need, no, we demand a great deal of compassion.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Silent Nourishment...
I first heard this story a number of years ago. It was always a little distant in my mind, and because of that I never wanted to tell it. I came across a written version, so now I can recall the following to you:
A church goer, a seemingly reluctant one at that, wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now" he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me. I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I am wasting my time and the pastors are wasting their time by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks, until someone wrote the clincher: "I've have been married for 30 years now..In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I know this…..They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today."
What a great story. A story that is so, true. We can get so caught up in the results we can see, we lose sight of the fact that, that which is most important, is a reality we CANNOT see. To desire to see the tangible results, is fueled by the ego, the false self. The world we live in wants, results! These results, if they are to be of value, and most importantly, to have a value placed on them, must be seen. On the other hand, the spiritual journey is all about The Unseen, The Unknown, and The Incomprehensible. The scripture reminds us, "that which is seen is transitory, that which is unseen lasts forever." So it is with a world of grace. So it is with the journey we call, spiritual. Because it is, spiritual, it cannot be seen or measured, much to our disappointment. What is happening, is God's business, not ours. All we have to do, to cooperate, is allow it to happen. That is our part to play. You could say we are at our best, when we are, get this, *doing nothing. We are just being who we really are, and our God is working the miracle of His grace, within that reality. The slow process of molding is taking place in each and every moment of the life we live. God uses the life we live to mold the life of His son, Jesus Christ. We become the body of Christ. This becoming is a ever deliberate, slow, painful process. It does, however, allow us to experience a joy and a freedom that is beyond human words to explain or express.
This weekend is we celebrate the feast of The Body of Christ, Corpus Christi.
This is who we are and who we have been called to be, from all of eternity, The Body Of Christ. A body that has to be taken, blessed, broken , and given. As it happened to Him in whose footsteps, we follow, so it will happen to you and I. That is our destiny and our vocation, as Catholic Christians. We are a people to be taken, placed aside, consecrated [baptism], for the express purpose of being the contemporary presence, of Jesus Christ. As He had to be broken and beaten, crucified and killed, to become the Christ, so we too, in order to become Christians, have follow the same self-process. (You and I follow the same pattern.) We will not experience all that it is described in the Scriptures, that description is an allegory for what has happened, and is happening to us. It is, however, a source of hope for you and I.
So then, each time when we receive, The Body of the crucified One, we are strengthened to face the everyday crucifixion which is part and parcel of the human experience we have as spiritual beings. Spiritual beings who have been taken from, sent forth from, The Divine Presence. For what purpose? To be consecrated for the continuation of the One that was crucified and killed. But, for Him and for us, crucifiction is not the end, because He rose to a new life, so it will be for you and I. As we receive The Body of Christ, Eucharist, we are being drawn ever deeper into His risen life as we participate on an ever-deepening journey into His suffering and death. It can be summed up in the following familiar phrase "No Good Friday, no, Easter Sunday.
What is the struggle, or where is the struggle, you and I, can claim as our present day participation in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ?
Where have we come to, the end of our strength? What are the circumstances we are facing which leads us to cry out, "I, cannot move any further, I cannot go on another inch.?” This is the place of our Eucharist. This is the place where we are been broken and have almost given up, notice the word, almost. It is in this place we are now ready to receive the strength and nourishment, that is way beyond us. It is in and through the offering [Eucharist] of what we do not have, that we receive all that we need. It is in the offering, we make room for the grace we need. It is in that deepening surrender we are offering ourselves for the ongoing gradual molding of ourselves into Him, whom we have receive, and are called to be, The Body of Christ.
This is a great mystery, being, and receiving, The Body of Christ. It is only by immersing ourselves into the mystery, again, again, and again, that we allow this miracle to happen. As the husband in the above story was nourished by meals he cannot remember, so we too, have been nourished (and will be nourished) in celebrations that have faded from our memory (and will fade from our memory). Yet, there is that guarantee, that in each Eucharist we receive the necessary light, life and love of God. This light, life and love then be communicated to us in and through the Liturgy we participate in. Just like when we sit at a table to eat a meal, it works when we show up, participate to the extent that we are capable of and the nourishing happens. So it has been and always will be with us and for us as The Body of Christ.
A church goer, a seemingly reluctant one at that, wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now" he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me. I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I am wasting my time and the pastors are wasting their time by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks, until someone wrote the clincher: "I've have been married for 30 years now..In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I know this…..They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today."
What a great story. A story that is so, true. We can get so caught up in the results we can see, we lose sight of the fact that, that which is most important, is a reality we CANNOT see. To desire to see the tangible results, is fueled by the ego, the false self. The world we live in wants, results! These results, if they are to be of value, and most importantly, to have a value placed on them, must be seen. On the other hand, the spiritual journey is all about The Unseen, The Unknown, and The Incomprehensible. The scripture reminds us, "that which is seen is transitory, that which is unseen lasts forever." So it is with a world of grace. So it is with the journey we call, spiritual. Because it is, spiritual, it cannot be seen or measured, much to our disappointment. What is happening, is God's business, not ours. All we have to do, to cooperate, is allow it to happen. That is our part to play. You could say we are at our best, when we are, get this, *doing nothing. We are just being who we really are, and our God is working the miracle of His grace, within that reality. The slow process of molding is taking place in each and every moment of the life we live. God uses the life we live to mold the life of His son, Jesus Christ. We become the body of Christ. This becoming is a ever deliberate, slow, painful process. It does, however, allow us to experience a joy and a freedom that is beyond human words to explain or express.
This weekend is we celebrate the feast of The Body of Christ, Corpus Christi.
This is who we are and who we have been called to be, from all of eternity, The Body Of Christ. A body that has to be taken, blessed, broken , and given. As it happened to Him in whose footsteps, we follow, so it will happen to you and I. That is our destiny and our vocation, as Catholic Christians. We are a people to be taken, placed aside, consecrated [baptism], for the express purpose of being the contemporary presence, of Jesus Christ. As He had to be broken and beaten, crucified and killed, to become the Christ, so we too, in order to become Christians, have follow the same self-process. (You and I follow the same pattern.) We will not experience all that it is described in the Scriptures, that description is an allegory for what has happened, and is happening to us. It is, however, a source of hope for you and I.
So then, each time when we receive, The Body of the crucified One, we are strengthened to face the everyday crucifixion which is part and parcel of the human experience we have as spiritual beings. Spiritual beings who have been taken from, sent forth from, The Divine Presence. For what purpose? To be consecrated for the continuation of the One that was crucified and killed. But, for Him and for us, crucifiction is not the end, because He rose to a new life, so it will be for you and I. As we receive The Body of Christ, Eucharist, we are being drawn ever deeper into His risen life as we participate on an ever-deepening journey into His suffering and death. It can be summed up in the following familiar phrase "No Good Friday, no, Easter Sunday.
What is the struggle, or where is the struggle, you and I, can claim as our present day participation in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ?
Where have we come to, the end of our strength? What are the circumstances we are facing which leads us to cry out, "I, cannot move any further, I cannot go on another inch.?” This is the place of our Eucharist. This is the place where we are been broken and have almost given up, notice the word, almost. It is in this place we are now ready to receive the strength and nourishment, that is way beyond us. It is in and through the offering [Eucharist] of what we do not have, that we receive all that we need. It is in the offering, we make room for the grace we need. It is in that deepening surrender we are offering ourselves for the ongoing gradual molding of ourselves into Him, whom we have receive, and are called to be, The Body of Christ.
This is a great mystery, being, and receiving, The Body of Christ. It is only by immersing ourselves into the mystery, again, again, and again, that we allow this miracle to happen. As the husband in the above story was nourished by meals he cannot remember, so we too, have been nourished (and will be nourished) in celebrations that have faded from our memory (and will fade from our memory). Yet, there is that guarantee, that in each Eucharist we receive the necessary light, life and love of God. This light, life and love then be communicated to us in and through the Liturgy we participate in. Just like when we sit at a table to eat a meal, it works when we show up, participate to the extent that we are capable of and the nourishing happens. So it has been and always will be with us and for us as The Body of Christ.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Family Within.....
I got a new set of lenses for my old glasses, this week. Why? Because I just wanted to spend some money? No. I went for an eye checkup, the first one in three years. [I found out I need to have an exam every two years.] That would explain why I was having trouble with seeing, and as you may have observed, reading as well
Over the last few months I was struggling to see clearly. There was some unexplained gook in my eyes. It was time to get some answers. The answers were, my eyes, especially the left one, had gotten weaker. I was also told I have a condition called macula pucker. Not anything to worry about, for now, but a condition to be checked, in six months. If it worsens, then I am a candidate for surgery . How exciting.!!!
As you know by now, that whatever is our reality and we gaze at it long enough, there is a sermon in it. In this case, there is a blog. Whatever is real in our lives, because it is real, has within it a spiritual reality. It is up to us to develop the lenses, so we can see, that which is hidden. This process gives the so called “ordinary events” in our lives, a dimension which otherwise we would have missed. We discover the life that lies beyond the life we are living. I think I should have said, the “extraordinary life” that lies beyond . That is more in keeping with which is our total reality. We spend our whole life long journey on that journey, of discovery. It is a very wonderful, yet troublesome one. As we make our journey, we are in constant need, just like me right now, of asking and receiving new glasses. The older we get, the more powerful the lens required. Some say, we are in the constant need of the xray eye of faith. I conquer. The longer we are on the spiritual life, the more sensitive we must become to the hidden workings of THE FAMILY, we call GOD. This family we call God, we also call The Holy Trinity. God lives His life in the community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Their secret, mysterious life is also being lived within you and I. The opening prayer of the weekend's mass has these very mysterious words,
“God, we praise you:
Father, all powerful, Christ Lord and Savior, Spirit of love.
You reveal yourself in the depths of our being, drawing us to share in your life ann your love.
Be near to the people formed in your image."
The prayer has been answered. Our Triune God, has not only drawn near to us, He has gone way beyond what we ask, beyond our petition. He has chosen freely, to make His family's place, within our deepest depths. So, as we journey into the depths, we are on our journey to where the Trinity dwells. That is a journey into the darkness of who we are as human beings. Because of this journey, we will be led to discover whatever we shall need lies deep within. The only trouble with that is, as we make the journey into our depths, we will discover every sin another person can commit. From this journey into honesty we will cry out from the dark depths for the aid of our God.
Sometimes we will have the need of our God to give new life, where we have encountered death. We will face the fact that we cannot, so we will be in the need of a Savior God. A Power that can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. To accept that powerlessness, is to accept THE CROSS. That powerlessness is personal to each one of us. No two of us will have the same pain, our pain is unique. We can never say to another, "I know your pain". That is to minimize that person's experience. All we can do, and that takes great courage, great courage, is share our story. Tell the raw naked truth of our journey in unvarnished honesty. We must also share the new life, and the hope that is now ours because of the journey. In this way, the new Spirit you have been given, to live the new life you now have, will reach out to bring hope and strength to out who needs it. You are the bearer of The Good News. Then we will realize there is a Spirit whose job is to reveal the ongoing work of grace, the work of sanctification. We will come accept, be consoled, and strengthened with the knowledge, whatever we need IS already present within.
So to sum up, the Father is the creator God, the son is the Savior God, the Holy Spirit is the Loving Power of our God which sanctifies us. All this, and infinitely more, is being lived out within you and I. It is being lived out whether we realize it or not. We do not have to know, all that matters is God knows. I will end with an ancient Gaelic prayer.
I arise today through a mighty strength,
The invocation of the Trinity......
through belief in the threeness....
through confession of the oneness..
Of The Creator of Creation.
What a Wonder-full, Awe-full mystery it is, that has chosen you, yes you, to be His dwelling place. Reverence yourself and ALL that you are, all that is authentically you, and the mystery of God will take on a new, and dynamic meaning.
Over the last few months I was struggling to see clearly. There was some unexplained gook in my eyes. It was time to get some answers. The answers were, my eyes, especially the left one, had gotten weaker. I was also told I have a condition called macula pucker. Not anything to worry about, for now, but a condition to be checked, in six months. If it worsens, then I am a candidate for surgery . How exciting.!!!
As you know by now, that whatever is our reality and we gaze at it long enough, there is a sermon in it. In this case, there is a blog. Whatever is real in our lives, because it is real, has within it a spiritual reality. It is up to us to develop the lenses, so we can see, that which is hidden. This process gives the so called “ordinary events” in our lives, a dimension which otherwise we would have missed. We discover the life that lies beyond the life we are living. I think I should have said, the “extraordinary life” that lies beyond . That is more in keeping with which is our total reality. We spend our whole life long journey on that journey, of discovery. It is a very wonderful, yet troublesome one. As we make our journey, we are in constant need, just like me right now, of asking and receiving new glasses. The older we get, the more powerful the lens required. Some say, we are in the constant need of the xray eye of faith. I conquer. The longer we are on the spiritual life, the more sensitive we must become to the hidden workings of THE FAMILY, we call GOD. This family we call God, we also call The Holy Trinity. God lives His life in the community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Their secret, mysterious life is also being lived within you and I. The opening prayer of the weekend's mass has these very mysterious words,
“God, we praise you:
Father, all powerful, Christ Lord and Savior, Spirit of love.
You reveal yourself in the depths of our being, drawing us to share in your life ann your love.
Be near to the people formed in your image."
The prayer has been answered. Our Triune God, has not only drawn near to us, He has gone way beyond what we ask, beyond our petition. He has chosen freely, to make His family's place, within our deepest depths. So, as we journey into the depths, we are on our journey to where the Trinity dwells. That is a journey into the darkness of who we are as human beings. Because of this journey, we will be led to discover whatever we shall need lies deep within. The only trouble with that is, as we make the journey into our depths, we will discover every sin another person can commit. From this journey into honesty we will cry out from the dark depths for the aid of our God.
Sometimes we will have the need of our God to give new life, where we have encountered death. We will face the fact that we cannot, so we will be in the need of a Savior God. A Power that can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. To accept that powerlessness, is to accept THE CROSS. That powerlessness is personal to each one of us. No two of us will have the same pain, our pain is unique. We can never say to another, "I know your pain". That is to minimize that person's experience. All we can do, and that takes great courage, great courage, is share our story. Tell the raw naked truth of our journey in unvarnished honesty. We must also share the new life, and the hope that is now ours because of the journey. In this way, the new Spirit you have been given, to live the new life you now have, will reach out to bring hope and strength to out who needs it. You are the bearer of The Good News. Then we will realize there is a Spirit whose job is to reveal the ongoing work of grace, the work of sanctification. We will come accept, be consoled, and strengthened with the knowledge, whatever we need IS already present within.
So to sum up, the Father is the creator God, the son is the Savior God, the Holy Spirit is the Loving Power of our God which sanctifies us. All this, and infinitely more, is being lived out within you and I. It is being lived out whether we realize it or not. We do not have to know, all that matters is God knows. I will end with an ancient Gaelic prayer.
I arise today through a mighty strength,
The invocation of the Trinity......
through belief in the threeness....
through confession of the oneness..
Of The Creator of Creation.
What a Wonder-full, Awe-full mystery it is, that has chosen you, yes you, to be His dwelling place. Reverence yourself and ALL that you are, all that is authentically you, and the mystery of God will take on a new, and dynamic meaning.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
God's Shyness.....
“Come Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and, you shall renew the face of the earth.”
We have journeyed through our desert experience, accompanied, strengthened and guided by the Good Shepherd. We again, on a new and deeper level, participated in the Paschal death of Christ. This ever deepening participation, has led to a new understanding of what Resurrection really means. This leads us to grow in hope. This vital hope, provides encouragement and vitality as we encounter the many faces of death, on this life's journey. We are then lead to accept, not like, that ever so painful process of letting go. Letting go of what? Letting go of the old, the familiar. (The real meaning of the Ascension.) In this letting go a space, a place is created into which we now welcome the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is the loving creative force of God, that is being welcomed into our lives. It is The Power that heals, transfigures, and transforms. It is the gentle love of God, can there be any other? This love has been described as a cooling zephyr, renewing and strengthening us, for the continuation of the journey. It is a peaceful, calming love in which we can find our rest and healing. The only catch is we have to allow it to happen to us. We have to surrender ourselves into that space, into that place where our God has chosen to make His dwelling place. To our horror, and disbelief, we are led to accept this wonderful mystery, the place of our previous discomfort, is now the place we find our comfort and peace. God's ways sure do not make any sense, do they? All this happens how? When we allow it to happen. Yes there is no mistake here.
This is how much God loves us, we are able, because of free will, to say yes, or no, to His gift. We have to make the choice between being a human doer, or a human being. A very difficult one to make. One will feed the ego and the result in looking good on the outside, while all the while feeling alone and isolated on the inside. We on the other hand, becoming a human being, we have to deny the ego, if you so dare. We are then led to a place of peace which is beyond our hopes, and dreams. In doing this, we are led to a place, where we are given a peace, which the world of the ego cannot give. That place of rest seems to me to be created only after some great trial, or upheaval. It appears only when we have endured the battle with the pain of loss, alienation, discouragement, isolation, failure etc. We are lead to the acceptance, we are beloved of our God, not, and I repeat not, because of what we do, but because of who we are in His love, and in His eyes. As we rest in that place of comfort and hope we will be able to live life, and not just endure a lifeless existence.
We are to remind ourselves again and again, because we fail and fall again and again, of the welcoming words of Jesus The Christ "come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you", another translation says "and I will give you rest. He does not say I will FIX you". Anyone who comes to me, him I will not reject" are other words we seem to forget. It is up each one of us to respond to the personal, particular call of the Good Shepherd so he can lead us to safe and green pastures, where we can rest our weary bones. As we are nourished in the place we are led to, we find there healing, transfiguration, and transformation. We discover a new life, never knowing when the old one ceased to exist. By the way, how it happened and when it happened, IS, none of our business. That is the egos need, that is the false self looking for some fodder to boost itself. In the pasture we are led to, we will experience a sense of renewal. A new sense of vitality bubbles up within us. This will be in proportion to the above mentioned participation in the paschal mystery. It appears, the greater the wound, the greater the gift. What great consolation there is in that.
“Send forth your spirit and renew the face of the earth.” That is what is always happening to both you and I. We are constantly being made new, through the power of The Spirit of Love. This new "creating" is always done quietly and above all, gently. So much of the creative work is done in the dark, I guess we can say, The Holy Spirit, is the shyness of God, revealed. The gentleness is revealed in the gifts of love, peace , joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, so to end up. Looking at your life right now, what is the gift you really want from this previous list, which will allow you to live, and not just exist? Take that request into the shower with you, and follow the directions from 'The Shower of Shalom' blog on 4/11/10. In this way, you are asking for the Spirit to bestow on you what is your need right now. In other words, we are asking for our daily bread. The bread of yesterday will not energize us today. We need the bread of today for the challenges that we will face us today. The Spirit of the Good Shepherd is always, and always will be there for you and I. The creative power of God takes what is ours, compensates for what is missing, and quietly and gently weaves it back into the pattern of our lives, and we have not missed a step. All we can say is “by the power of God's love this has been done for me. Not because I am good, but because God is Good. I did not earn this gift, I do not deserve this gift, what I must do Is allow myself to enjoy this particular, and personal manifestation of love of my God for me."
We have journeyed through our desert experience, accompanied, strengthened and guided by the Good Shepherd. We again, on a new and deeper level, participated in the Paschal death of Christ. This ever deepening participation, has led to a new understanding of what Resurrection really means. This leads us to grow in hope. This vital hope, provides encouragement and vitality as we encounter the many faces of death, on this life's journey. We are then lead to accept, not like, that ever so painful process of letting go. Letting go of what? Letting go of the old, the familiar. (The real meaning of the Ascension.) In this letting go a space, a place is created into which we now welcome the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is the loving creative force of God, that is being welcomed into our lives. It is The Power that heals, transfigures, and transforms. It is the gentle love of God, can there be any other? This love has been described as a cooling zephyr, renewing and strengthening us, for the continuation of the journey. It is a peaceful, calming love in which we can find our rest and healing. The only catch is we have to allow it to happen to us. We have to surrender ourselves into that space, into that place where our God has chosen to make His dwelling place. To our horror, and disbelief, we are led to accept this wonderful mystery, the place of our previous discomfort, is now the place we find our comfort and peace. God's ways sure do not make any sense, do they? All this happens how? When we allow it to happen. Yes there is no mistake here.
This is how much God loves us, we are able, because of free will, to say yes, or no, to His gift. We have to make the choice between being a human doer, or a human being. A very difficult one to make. One will feed the ego and the result in looking good on the outside, while all the while feeling alone and isolated on the inside. We on the other hand, becoming a human being, we have to deny the ego, if you so dare. We are then led to a place of peace which is beyond our hopes, and dreams. In doing this, we are led to a place, where we are given a peace, which the world of the ego cannot give. That place of rest seems to me to be created only after some great trial, or upheaval. It appears only when we have endured the battle with the pain of loss, alienation, discouragement, isolation, failure etc. We are lead to the acceptance, we are beloved of our God, not, and I repeat not, because of what we do, but because of who we are in His love, and in His eyes. As we rest in that place of comfort and hope we will be able to live life, and not just endure a lifeless existence.
We are to remind ourselves again and again, because we fail and fall again and again, of the welcoming words of Jesus The Christ "come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you", another translation says "and I will give you rest. He does not say I will FIX you". Anyone who comes to me, him I will not reject" are other words we seem to forget. It is up each one of us to respond to the personal, particular call of the Good Shepherd so he can lead us to safe and green pastures, where we can rest our weary bones. As we are nourished in the place we are led to, we find there healing, transfiguration, and transformation. We discover a new life, never knowing when the old one ceased to exist. By the way, how it happened and when it happened, IS, none of our business. That is the egos need, that is the false self looking for some fodder to boost itself. In the pasture we are led to, we will experience a sense of renewal. A new sense of vitality bubbles up within us. This will be in proportion to the above mentioned participation in the paschal mystery. It appears, the greater the wound, the greater the gift. What great consolation there is in that.
“Send forth your spirit and renew the face of the earth.” That is what is always happening to both you and I. We are constantly being made new, through the power of The Spirit of Love. This new "creating" is always done quietly and above all, gently. So much of the creative work is done in the dark, I guess we can say, The Holy Spirit, is the shyness of God, revealed. The gentleness is revealed in the gifts of love, peace , joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, so to end up. Looking at your life right now, what is the gift you really want from this previous list, which will allow you to live, and not just exist? Take that request into the shower with you, and follow the directions from 'The Shower of Shalom' blog on 4/11/10. In this way, you are asking for the Spirit to bestow on you what is your need right now. In other words, we are asking for our daily bread. The bread of yesterday will not energize us today. We need the bread of today for the challenges that we will face us today. The Spirit of the Good Shepherd is always, and always will be there for you and I. The creative power of God takes what is ours, compensates for what is missing, and quietly and gently weaves it back into the pattern of our lives, and we have not missed a step. All we can say is “by the power of God's love this has been done for me. Not because I am good, but because God is Good. I did not earn this gift, I do not deserve this gift, what I must do Is allow myself to enjoy this particular, and personal manifestation of love of my God for me."
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Truth and Beauty...
Eternal Father, reaching from end to end of the universe, and ordering all things with your mighty arm: for you, time is the unfolding of truth that already is, the unveiling of beauty that is yet to be........(may the presence of you Son) among us lead to the vision of unlimited truth and unfold the beauty of your love. We ask this............
This is the opening prayer of The Seventh Sunday, after Easter. What great timing? These last few of weeks we have celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday, Mothers Day. We also have had a number where we encountered the Risen Christ preparing His disciples for His, going away, and return to the Father. Over the weeks we were able to reflect on the "farewell address' of Christ. When we are in a state, or stage, of fear, returning again and again to those chapters of John's Gospel is a great source of reassurance and hope. Christ is leaving. He then says something very mysterious, " it is good that I go". Weird. Why is it good that you leave, the disciples could ask? You were out of our lives for three days and we did not do so well? Now you are going to really leave us, and this is supposed to be good, makes no sense, we are going to be lost.
It is here we encounter the care and concern of The Good Shepherd, revealing in His words the quality of a good mother, who happens to be, our God. He reassures the frightened, and concerned disciples, He will not abandon them or leave them orphans. He will leave only to make way for a still greater gift, The Spirit, The Advocate, will be sent, not to be present to them, this Spirit is going to be WITHIN them. This coming will complete the three presence of God. In the Old Testament, he was the God “for”. In the New Testament, He is the God “with”. Now He is coming to be the God “within”. We always need to keep those realities, those presences of our Gods before us, or we too can not only get caught up in the same feelings of being lost, left behind and abandoned. That is not just any truth, it is the beauty of our real truth. This beauty, as the prayer says is gradually, and oh, oh, so gradually unfolding, within us. This unfolding is the work of the same creative Spirit that brought order to the original chaos, and raised Jesus from the dead. We have a great power that exists in us, through us, and always for others. As Jesus Christ came, not for Himself, but for others, we who now carry on that same ministry in His name, must always keep this truth before ourselves. What is that truth? It is not our ministry, or message, it is what has been given to us, to be given away, freely. That is why we are given the Spirit of truth, to keep us in God's truth, not just our small, narrow interpretation of infinite truth. Truth, and Beauty, of necessity go together, because each is used to reveal who our God is. So, embrace that mysterious beauty, within you, today. Do not give in to the Advocates archenemy, the prosecuting attorney, Satan. Live your truth which tells to you are the beloved of the Gracious, kind, and ever watchful Good Shepherd. When the time comes, and it does come, again and again, keep the following words of Karl Rahner ever before you. I have used them so often I now can recite them from memory.
I am the blind alleys of all your paths, for when you no longer know how to go any farther, then you have reached me, foolish child, though you are not aware of it. I am in your anxiety; for I have shared it by suffering it. And in doing so, I wasn't even heroic according to the wisdom of the world. I am in the prison of your finiteness, for my love has made me your prisoner. When the totals of your plans and of your life's experiences do not balance out evenly; I am the unsolved remainder. And I know that this remainder, which makes you so frantic, is in reality my love, that you do not understand.
I am present in your needs. I have suffered them and they are now transformed but not obliterated from my heart. . . . This reality--incomprehensible wonder of my almighty love - I have sheltered safely in the cold stable of your world. I am there. I no longer go away from this world, even if you do not see me now; . . . I am there.
This is the opening prayer of The Seventh Sunday, after Easter. What great timing? These last few of weeks we have celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday, Mothers Day. We also have had a number where we encountered the Risen Christ preparing His disciples for His, going away, and return to the Father. Over the weeks we were able to reflect on the "farewell address' of Christ. When we are in a state, or stage, of fear, returning again and again to those chapters of John's Gospel is a great source of reassurance and hope. Christ is leaving. He then says something very mysterious, " it is good that I go". Weird. Why is it good that you leave, the disciples could ask? You were out of our lives for three days and we did not do so well? Now you are going to really leave us, and this is supposed to be good, makes no sense, we are going to be lost.
It is here we encounter the care and concern of The Good Shepherd, revealing in His words the quality of a good mother, who happens to be, our God. He reassures the frightened, and concerned disciples, He will not abandon them or leave them orphans. He will leave only to make way for a still greater gift, The Spirit, The Advocate, will be sent, not to be present to them, this Spirit is going to be WITHIN them. This coming will complete the three presence of God. In the Old Testament, he was the God “for”. In the New Testament, He is the God “with”. Now He is coming to be the God “within”. We always need to keep those realities, those presences of our Gods before us, or we too can not only get caught up in the same feelings of being lost, left behind and abandoned. That is not just any truth, it is the beauty of our real truth. This beauty, as the prayer says is gradually, and oh, oh, so gradually unfolding, within us. This unfolding is the work of the same creative Spirit that brought order to the original chaos, and raised Jesus from the dead. We have a great power that exists in us, through us, and always for others. As Jesus Christ came, not for Himself, but for others, we who now carry on that same ministry in His name, must always keep this truth before ourselves. What is that truth? It is not our ministry, or message, it is what has been given to us, to be given away, freely. That is why we are given the Spirit of truth, to keep us in God's truth, not just our small, narrow interpretation of infinite truth. Truth, and Beauty, of necessity go together, because each is used to reveal who our God is. So, embrace that mysterious beauty, within you, today. Do not give in to the Advocates archenemy, the prosecuting attorney, Satan. Live your truth which tells to you are the beloved of the Gracious, kind, and ever watchful Good Shepherd. When the time comes, and it does come, again and again, keep the following words of Karl Rahner ever before you. I have used them so often I now can recite them from memory.
I am the blind alleys of all your paths, for when you no longer know how to go any farther, then you have reached me, foolish child, though you are not aware of it. I am in your anxiety; for I have shared it by suffering it. And in doing so, I wasn't even heroic according to the wisdom of the world. I am in the prison of your finiteness, for my love has made me your prisoner. When the totals of your plans and of your life's experiences do not balance out evenly; I am the unsolved remainder. And I know that this remainder, which makes you so frantic, is in reality my love, that you do not understand.
I am present in your needs. I have suffered them and they are now transformed but not obliterated from my heart. . . . This reality--incomprehensible wonder of my almighty love - I have sheltered safely in the cold stable of your world. I am there. I no longer go away from this world, even if you do not see me now; . . . I am there.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Motherhood and Mystery
One day when I was on vacation and I was at Mass. In front of me was a mother and child. The mother placed the child in front of her at arms length. They gazed at each other for some time. The child gazed at his mother was a steady silent gaze. Then its face broke into a wondrous smile, from its lips joy is screeched and its little hands began to clap happily. The child rejoiced that it was loved and the face of the young mother shone with a beauty that no artist could capture. From then on, whenever I hear a screech at Mass, that is my vision. I am jealous.
That is what I see when mother and child are caught up in “the gaze”. Often, when I am on vacation, I get caught up so often observing the interplay between mother and child just as I do when I celebrate Mass. There is something going on with that interplay. Whatever I have to say is being ignored. There is something more satisfying, more full-filling being offered in that interplay for the mother and child than what I have to offer. Of that I am certain.
I came across the following quotation, in which I have found food for thought over many years;
“Mothers beauty infinitely surpasses the glory of nature. It is an unimaginable beauty, the only one that you can imagine this woman attending to stirrings of her infants. Christ never speaks of beauty. It is the only company He keeps, but under it’s true name: Love. Beauty comes from love, as daylight comes from the sun. As the sun comes from God, as God comes from a woman exhausted from childbirth. Fathers go to war, to the office, sign contracts. Fathers are in charge of society. That is their business, their great affair. A father is someone who represents something other than himself in his relationship to his child, and who believes in what he represents: law, reason, experience. Society. A mother does not represent anything in relationship to her child. She does not stand in relationship to it, but is around it, inside, outside, everywhere. She raises the child up at arms length and presents it to eternal life. Mothers are in charge of God. That is their passion, their sole occupation, their loss and their empowerment at the same time. To be a father is to play the role of father. To be a mother is an absolute mystery, a mystery without reference point, a absolute that is not relative to anything, an impossible task that is nevertheless fulfilled, even by bad mothers. Even bad mothers stand in their nearness to be absolute, they have an intimacy with God that fathers will never know…….
Mothers have no rank, no pull. They are born at the same time as their children. Mothers grow up in life at the same time as their child and as the child is equal of God, from the time of its birth, from the beginning mothers are inside the holy of holies, fulfilled by everything, ignorant of everything that fulfills them. And if all true beauty comes from love, where does love come from? From what matter does it matter derived, from what nature its super-naturalness, beauty comes from love. Loves comes from attention. Simple attention to the simple: humble attention to the humble things: living attention to all lives, and surely to that of the little cup in its cradle, incapable of feeding itself, incapable of everything but tears. The first knowledge of the newborn, the single possession of the prince of the crib, is his gift of complaint, his claim on the love far away, his screams in the direction of a life too distant-and it is mother that gets up and responds, it is God who wakes up and arises, responding every time, every time attentive above and beyond weariness. The weariness of the first days of the world, a weariness of the first years of childhood. Apart from that, there is nothing. There is no greater holiness then that of mothers exhausted by diapers to be washed, formula to be heated and baths to be given. Men hold the world. Mothers hold the eternal element that holds the world and men.” [Bobbin, The Secret of St. Francis Assisi]
That is what I see when mother and child are caught up in “the gaze”. Often, when I am on vacation, I get caught up so often observing the interplay between mother and child just as I do when I celebrate Mass. There is something going on with that interplay. Whatever I have to say is being ignored. There is something more satisfying, more full-filling being offered in that interplay for the mother and child than what I have to offer. Of that I am certain.
I came across the following quotation, in which I have found food for thought over many years;
“Mothers beauty infinitely surpasses the glory of nature. It is an unimaginable beauty, the only one that you can imagine this woman attending to stirrings of her infants. Christ never speaks of beauty. It is the only company He keeps, but under it’s true name: Love. Beauty comes from love, as daylight comes from the sun. As the sun comes from God, as God comes from a woman exhausted from childbirth. Fathers go to war, to the office, sign contracts. Fathers are in charge of society. That is their business, their great affair. A father is someone who represents something other than himself in his relationship to his child, and who believes in what he represents: law, reason, experience. Society. A mother does not represent anything in relationship to her child. She does not stand in relationship to it, but is around it, inside, outside, everywhere. She raises the child up at arms length and presents it to eternal life. Mothers are in charge of God. That is their passion, their sole occupation, their loss and their empowerment at the same time. To be a father is to play the role of father. To be a mother is an absolute mystery, a mystery without reference point, a absolute that is not relative to anything, an impossible task that is nevertheless fulfilled, even by bad mothers. Even bad mothers stand in their nearness to be absolute, they have an intimacy with God that fathers will never know…….
Mothers have no rank, no pull. They are born at the same time as their children. Mothers grow up in life at the same time as their child and as the child is equal of God, from the time of its birth, from the beginning mothers are inside the holy of holies, fulfilled by everything, ignorant of everything that fulfills them. And if all true beauty comes from love, where does love come from? From what matter does it matter derived, from what nature its super-naturalness, beauty comes from love. Loves comes from attention. Simple attention to the simple: humble attention to the humble things: living attention to all lives, and surely to that of the little cup in its cradle, incapable of feeding itself, incapable of everything but tears. The first knowledge of the newborn, the single possession of the prince of the crib, is his gift of complaint, his claim on the love far away, his screams in the direction of a life too distant-and it is mother that gets up and responds, it is God who wakes up and arises, responding every time, every time attentive above and beyond weariness. The weariness of the first days of the world, a weariness of the first years of childhood. Apart from that, there is nothing. There is no greater holiness then that of mothers exhausted by diapers to be washed, formula to be heated and baths to be given. Men hold the world. Mothers hold the eternal element that holds the world and men.” [Bobbin, The Secret of St. Francis Assisi]
Saturday, May 1, 2010
A Personal Good Shepherd...
I, came across the following reflection, by one of my favorite authors; Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller,C.P.
"...in the church where questions are thrashed out theologically with an eye to tradition and earlier practices, and beyond the church where new and unexpected manifestations of the Holy Spirit will startle us, was anticipated by Jesus in the parable of The Good Shepherd. In this story Jesus knows each of us sheep by name. He calls each one with a sound which reaches into the depths of their memory, all the way back to their birth when each one of us is given and a vocation for life. Each change of life, whether for the group or the individual, must be kept in continuity not only with each person's past life, but even with his ancestry from whom life and name have been received. Each change in life, moreover, must answer a personal call and touch a cord of love."
I have found that be so true in my own life. Each movement of years, and life's vocation, has demanded a new a new commitment, a new "YES". Each heartfelt "YES" resulted not only in the continuation, but an even deeper recommitment to what the original "yes" demanded. As you reflect on your life, what is happening, now, that demands a new response, on your part, and of those who share your life. Saying "yes" to the new, means saying good-bye to the old. We cannot rush the good-bye, and we cannot rush the grieving. As much as we want to rush the grieving process we do that at our own peril. Jesus spent 40 days with his disciples, to aid them in the process of change. So much difficulty and turmoil comes to us, as individuals, as couples, and as families, simple because the grieving work has not been done. Is this the time you will now say good-bye, to a past loss, to a past death? What have been the movement, or movements of your life, that shattered you in some way? We must say "good-bye" to them with anger and sorrow, so we can welcome the new, the vital, the vibrant, as it unfolds today, in the sacrament of the present moment.
Fr. Carroll, goes on to say..."Because the Good shepherd calls us by our name and leads us back and forth from our ancestry into our future, Jesus also compares Himself to the door of the sheepfold. The means by which we go back and forth turns out to be Jesus himself. Through Jesus we slip backward into our subconscious, into the depths of life, and become absorbed in the mystery of existence. WE hear our name spoken by Jesus: we experience the betrothal of love and a union of ecstasy. Through Jesus, we pass through a door into our very best self, our name as spoken by Jesus. Through this same door, which is Jesus, we are called to go forth into the activity of daily life, to mingle with other people, to form family, neighborhood and work crew, schools and clubs, activities and plans. To hear Jesus summon us by name , and to pass through the gate which is Himself, we go beyond the sheepfold into the wider world around us. We are lead to quench our thirst. Yet, at sundown we pass through the same door, which is Jesus, as the sound of our name is spoken by the same Good Shepherd, and we led back into the depths of ourselves, in silent prayer and sleep.
" In all this movement, as in ALL THIS REST, Jesus is at the center, and yet Jesus loses Himself in us. He calls OUR name in order to summon us forth to nourishment and pasture as well as to call us back to the silent prayer of the sheepfold........In all these moments, when the spirit seems to act abruptly and to lead us beyond our expectations-as happened to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles- when the spirit leads us to lay down our life as our best plans and ideals are lost within a family, a community or a church-these are the times we hear our names best-as spoken by JESUS.
May these words be a source of strength for you. May He, the Good Shepherd, and His constant care, be a source of encouragement, as you face the challenge of being His follower. The following is an old Celtic prayer. You can make it more personal when you change the word" Christ ", to "My Good Shepherd". In times of change and challenge, may the conviction that there a newness happening. In living this newness will be our personal witness to the Resurrection. Yes Christ has died, Yes Christ has risen, and yes Christ is alive and living largely within this person you are looking at right now.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in every heart of every man/woman who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouths of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
"...in the church where questions are thrashed out theologically with an eye to tradition and earlier practices, and beyond the church where new and unexpected manifestations of the Holy Spirit will startle us, was anticipated by Jesus in the parable of The Good Shepherd. In this story Jesus knows each of us sheep by name. He calls each one with a sound which reaches into the depths of their memory, all the way back to their birth when each one of us is given and a vocation for life. Each change of life, whether for the group or the individual, must be kept in continuity not only with each person's past life, but even with his ancestry from whom life and name have been received. Each change in life, moreover, must answer a personal call and touch a cord of love."
I have found that be so true in my own life. Each movement of years, and life's vocation, has demanded a new a new commitment, a new "YES". Each heartfelt "YES" resulted not only in the continuation, but an even deeper recommitment to what the original "yes" demanded. As you reflect on your life, what is happening, now, that demands a new response, on your part, and of those who share your life. Saying "yes" to the new, means saying good-bye to the old. We cannot rush the good-bye, and we cannot rush the grieving. As much as we want to rush the grieving process we do that at our own peril. Jesus spent 40 days with his disciples, to aid them in the process of change. So much difficulty and turmoil comes to us, as individuals, as couples, and as families, simple because the grieving work has not been done. Is this the time you will now say good-bye, to a past loss, to a past death? What have been the movement, or movements of your life, that shattered you in some way? We must say "good-bye" to them with anger and sorrow, so we can welcome the new, the vital, the vibrant, as it unfolds today, in the sacrament of the present moment.
Fr. Carroll, goes on to say..."Because the Good shepherd calls us by our name and leads us back and forth from our ancestry into our future, Jesus also compares Himself to the door of the sheepfold. The means by which we go back and forth turns out to be Jesus himself. Through Jesus we slip backward into our subconscious, into the depths of life, and become absorbed in the mystery of existence. WE hear our name spoken by Jesus: we experience the betrothal of love and a union of ecstasy. Through Jesus, we pass through a door into our very best self, our name as spoken by Jesus. Through this same door, which is Jesus, we are called to go forth into the activity of daily life, to mingle with other people, to form family, neighborhood and work crew, schools and clubs, activities and plans. To hear Jesus summon us by name , and to pass through the gate which is Himself, we go beyond the sheepfold into the wider world around us. We are lead to quench our thirst. Yet, at sundown we pass through the same door, which is Jesus, as the sound of our name is spoken by the same Good Shepherd, and we led back into the depths of ourselves, in silent prayer and sleep.
" In all this movement, as in ALL THIS REST, Jesus is at the center, and yet Jesus loses Himself in us. He calls OUR name in order to summon us forth to nourishment and pasture as well as to call us back to the silent prayer of the sheepfold........In all these moments, when the spirit seems to act abruptly and to lead us beyond our expectations-as happened to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles- when the spirit leads us to lay down our life as our best plans and ideals are lost within a family, a community or a church-these are the times we hear our names best-as spoken by JESUS.
May these words be a source of strength for you. May He, the Good Shepherd, and His constant care, be a source of encouragement, as you face the challenge of being His follower. The following is an old Celtic prayer. You can make it more personal when you change the word" Christ ", to "My Good Shepherd". In times of change and challenge, may the conviction that there a newness happening. In living this newness will be our personal witness to the Resurrection. Yes Christ has died, Yes Christ has risen, and yes Christ is alive and living largely within this person you are looking at right now.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in every heart of every man/woman who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouths of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
A New Spirit......
Welcome to another few steps on the hike we call, the spiritual journey. One person remarked this journey is just "a step long" and a mile deep. Well we can say "taking one" is easy, going a mile deep is real hard and difficult work. That being the truth, then most of the journey is going to take place in darkness. (Make sense?) Upon reflection, Jesus’ birth came at night, and as with all births, He, too, came from the darkness of the womb. His resurrected life began in the darkness of the tomb. It was from the darkness of the womb the fullness of new life sprang. Darkness just seems to never win. That is a fact we must repeat, again and again. We must always keep before ourselves, the awe-full, wonder-full, depth of meaning, that is hidden and revealed in the Paschal Mystery. We live it out in our every moment, of each and every day we are privileged to live. . Yes, that central mystery of our faith, is front and center, in our everyday living. "Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived." As we live life, so we live the Paschal Mystery. We have been Baptized into the mystery. As we live life, so we live the mystery of our Baptism. There is no human action, on our part, that does not reveal some aspect of the contemporary Christ, to the people that are placed in our lives. What an awe-full mystery we are, and live.
Why do we spend so much time reflecting on The Mystery? From my own lived experience there are now some things beginning to become clearer. These are best summed up in the words of Fr. Rolheiser when he writes the following concerning the Paschal Mystery. These words I am coming to an ever deepening acceptance of.
" This is the central mystery within Christianity. Unfortunately, it is one of the great misunderstood and ignored mysteries within theology and spirituality. We pay lip service to the fact that the key thing Jesus did for us was to suffer and die, but we seldom really try to understand what that means and how we might appropriate it within our own lives." ...Christian spirituality does not apologize for the fact that, within it, the most central of all mysteries is the paschal one, the mystery of suffering, death, and transformation. In Christian spirituality, Christ is central and, central to Christ ,is His death and rising to new life so as to send us a new Spirit"
Looking back at my life, I am sorry to say, I too payed only "lip service" to that central mystery of our faith. When did the change occur? Just like the great number of people I have met, it happened when the wheels came off, and I found myself in the ditch.
There was the great fear that comes with being lost, and in darkness. There was no obvious path to travel. Merton's words were a consolation, "God I have no idea of where I am going...?” de Chardin, " the cross is a sign of growth that is accomplished in pain". Rohr reminded me that my cross that I have to embrace, on a daily basis, are my experiences of failure, rejection, and nakedness. The only place of ease, was during the celebration of Mass. It was that, and the comforting, reassuring word of others, that provided me with what was necessary to leave behind what was appealing, but destructive. Has this happened just once? Of course not, we all have to face again and again. That is essential to the understanding of the spiritual journey. We have to be taught, on an ever deepening level, what it means to be a real, and true follower, of Jesus Christ. With each experience of a deeper death, comes a keener awareness of what it means to be alive. With each letting go, there is the welcoming and receiving, of a new Spirit to give vitality to the life I am given to love today.
I will end with another quote from Fr. Rolheiser, "The Paschal mystery ,......is a process of transformation within which we are given both new life and new spirit. It begins with suffering and death, moves on to the reception of new life, spends time grieving the old and adjusting to the new, and finally only after the old life has been Truly let go of, is a new spirit given for the life we are already living."
How about that, with your cup of coffee in the morning!
Why do we spend so much time reflecting on The Mystery? From my own lived experience there are now some things beginning to become clearer. These are best summed up in the words of Fr. Rolheiser when he writes the following concerning the Paschal Mystery. These words I am coming to an ever deepening acceptance of.
" This is the central mystery within Christianity. Unfortunately, it is one of the great misunderstood and ignored mysteries within theology and spirituality. We pay lip service to the fact that the key thing Jesus did for us was to suffer and die, but we seldom really try to understand what that means and how we might appropriate it within our own lives." ...Christian spirituality does not apologize for the fact that, within it, the most central of all mysteries is the paschal one, the mystery of suffering, death, and transformation. In Christian spirituality, Christ is central and, central to Christ ,is His death and rising to new life so as to send us a new Spirit"
Looking back at my life, I am sorry to say, I too payed only "lip service" to that central mystery of our faith. When did the change occur? Just like the great number of people I have met, it happened when the wheels came off, and I found myself in the ditch.
There was the great fear that comes with being lost, and in darkness. There was no obvious path to travel. Merton's words were a consolation, "God I have no idea of where I am going...?” de Chardin, " the cross is a sign of growth that is accomplished in pain". Rohr reminded me that my cross that I have to embrace, on a daily basis, are my experiences of failure, rejection, and nakedness. The only place of ease, was during the celebration of Mass. It was that, and the comforting, reassuring word of others, that provided me with what was necessary to leave behind what was appealing, but destructive. Has this happened just once? Of course not, we all have to face again and again. That is essential to the understanding of the spiritual journey. We have to be taught, on an ever deepening level, what it means to be a real, and true follower, of Jesus Christ. With each experience of a deeper death, comes a keener awareness of what it means to be alive. With each letting go, there is the welcoming and receiving, of a new Spirit to give vitality to the life I am given to love today.
I will end with another quote from Fr. Rolheiser, "The Paschal mystery ,......is a process of transformation within which we are given both new life and new spirit. It begins with suffering and death, moves on to the reception of new life, spends time grieving the old and adjusting to the new, and finally only after the old life has been Truly let go of, is a new spirit given for the life we are already living."
How about that, with your cup of coffee in the morning!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Tangled Web....
We continue on our post Easter journey. I am very well aware of the fact that there is, always some part of us, if not all of us, still suffering, and wallowing in the pre-Easter events. We do not , or cannot, encounter the real God in fantasy. The real God of Jesus Christ can only be encountered, in reality. When we accept the reality of where we are at, and what is happening to us we are able to connect with God and allow God to connect with us. In this encounter with the real, God meets us, we meet Him. He meets us, and so the miracle of grace begins its’ mysterious work. How it works, the manner in which it works, and the time frame all this happens is NONE of our business.
The Easter and post Easter events we read about for ourselves, or hear them proclaimed to us, are meant to remind us again and again, of what we forget, again and again. We are after all human, so we need to be dipped, and dipped, in what we forget, again and again. We are in constant need of being reminded, now more than ever, of the great gift of hope, which is the message, and the gift of this season. We need to be continuously immersed in The Mystery we call Paschal, until we get to the place where we see, or more correctly, are led to see, what? Our everyday life, and the events of the same, are our actual, personal encounter with the life, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, Ascension, and the sending down of His Spirit.
Life can and does come at us so hard and fast, we can and do lose focus. We lose focus on the fact, this is what Jesus had to suffer.
This is what he had to endure. This is what He was tempted to recoil from. This IS my personal participation in that Mystery we call Paschal. In this belief, I have the assurance I will never suffer alone. What consolation? When we read what the disciples went through, we are given a preview of what you, and I, are to journey through as well. The story is the same, only the place and the scenery, have changed.
Locked doors, personal feelings of guilt, fear, and shame, are not powerful enough to keep the Risen Christ from being with those He loved. He will not be kept from those whom He has loved, to the end. He is being The Good Shepherd, searching out His lost and disillusioned disciples. (As He did, so he does, with you and I.) There has been a change. There has been a change in the human Jesus whom they thought they knew, and loved, in so far as they were able to. Their knowledge of what it means to be "risen", will take time to develop, and accept. That knowledge, will have to be purified and strengthened, as it goes in the doubting stage. They had to go through the same process of transformation that we go through. Consolation? This
Risen Jesus, who is now the Christ of God, is no longer bound by the constraints of time and space. As He was present to His disciples, so He is present to you and I…. right NOW! He is not only present to both you and I, He is present in His risen life, within you and I, right now. Where we are, there He dwells. Were He is, so is the Father, and Holy Spirit. They are present , within us, loving us as they love one another. What a party that is going on! We must ask for the love, to love ourselves enough, to let go of our so called failures, regrets, doubts, and fears, so we can join in the celebration.
In the joining in, the celebration we are slowly lead to the fullness of the Aisling of God, the dream of God. This aisling, this dream, is expressed in the following,
" I have come that you would have life, and have it to the fullest".
God will not settle for anything less, why should we? We are offered the Shalom of God, always and everywhere. What is the aspect of Shalom you need right now? (Read the list from last week, and claim it). You are the beloved daughter/ son, claim that right NOW! "Now is the time of salvation"
Christ rose from the darkness of the tomb. The tomb was actually the womb from which came new life. The tomb experience teaches us the hard lesson that when everything seems to be lost, at its’ worst, it is then we are in the best place to deepen our understanding of the Easter – Ascension - Pentecost Mystery. The process continues. The more personal you make the journey, the more rewarding it will be. The more you will have to share with those God’s love will place on your path, so you can be their companion, and they yours. What a tangled web the love of God weaves ????
The Easter and post Easter events we read about for ourselves, or hear them proclaimed to us, are meant to remind us again and again, of what we forget, again and again. We are after all human, so we need to be dipped, and dipped, in what we forget, again and again. We are in constant need of being reminded, now more than ever, of the great gift of hope, which is the message, and the gift of this season. We need to be continuously immersed in The Mystery we call Paschal, until we get to the place where we see, or more correctly, are led to see, what? Our everyday life, and the events of the same, are our actual, personal encounter with the life, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, Ascension, and the sending down of His Spirit.
Life can and does come at us so hard and fast, we can and do lose focus. We lose focus on the fact, this is what Jesus had to suffer.
This is what he had to endure. This is what He was tempted to recoil from. This IS my personal participation in that Mystery we call Paschal. In this belief, I have the assurance I will never suffer alone. What consolation? When we read what the disciples went through, we are given a preview of what you, and I, are to journey through as well. The story is the same, only the place and the scenery, have changed.
Locked doors, personal feelings of guilt, fear, and shame, are not powerful enough to keep the Risen Christ from being with those He loved. He will not be kept from those whom He has loved, to the end. He is being The Good Shepherd, searching out His lost and disillusioned disciples. (As He did, so he does, with you and I.) There has been a change. There has been a change in the human Jesus whom they thought they knew, and loved, in so far as they were able to. Their knowledge of what it means to be "risen", will take time to develop, and accept. That knowledge, will have to be purified and strengthened, as it goes in the doubting stage. They had to go through the same process of transformation that we go through. Consolation? This
Risen Jesus, who is now the Christ of God, is no longer bound by the constraints of time and space. As He was present to His disciples, so He is present to you and I…. right NOW! He is not only present to both you and I, He is present in His risen life, within you and I, right now. Where we are, there He dwells. Were He is, so is the Father, and Holy Spirit. They are present , within us, loving us as they love one another. What a party that is going on! We must ask for the love, to love ourselves enough, to let go of our so called failures, regrets, doubts, and fears, so we can join in the celebration.
In the joining in, the celebration we are slowly lead to the fullness of the Aisling of God, the dream of God. This aisling, this dream, is expressed in the following,
" I have come that you would have life, and have it to the fullest".
God will not settle for anything less, why should we? We are offered the Shalom of God, always and everywhere. What is the aspect of Shalom you need right now? (Read the list from last week, and claim it). You are the beloved daughter/ son, claim that right NOW! "Now is the time of salvation"
Christ rose from the darkness of the tomb. The tomb was actually the womb from which came new life. The tomb experience teaches us the hard lesson that when everything seems to be lost, at its’ worst, it is then we are in the best place to deepen our understanding of the Easter – Ascension - Pentecost Mystery. The process continues. The more personal you make the journey, the more rewarding it will be. The more you will have to share with those God’s love will place on your path, so you can be their companion, and they yours. What a tangled web the love of God weaves ????
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Shower....Of.....Shalom
We were afforded the great gift of forty days, to prepare ourselves, yet again, for the great feast of Easter. We celebrate The Paschal Mystery again and again because we are ever experiencing that reality, always anew. So you see, we have to take this years’ experience of the mystery and confer on its’ uniqueness, by celebrating it as a new and never before reality. That is precisely what each and every liturgical celebration is. We took three days to celebrate The Easter mystery, The Paschal mystery. These twenty four hours are from evening to evening. From the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Good Friday is one day, and the same with the other two days. Now we are going to be afforded another 50 days to contemplate on how we experience, what we celebrated, as a daily realty. Otherwise, Jesus Christ did all that he did, suffered what he suffered, for nothing, His life was then a farce, and the same could be said of our lives too.
It is our lives being led as the life of The Contemporary Christ, that gives our life, and every second we lead untold value. In each and every moment of our lives, in each and every action of our lives, we are revealing anew, Jesus Christ. I live, no not I, it is Christ who lives. What an amazing power grace has, and how Gently is it exercised. This gentleness is portrayed in the first meeting of the Risen Christ with His Dispirited disciples .
What a feeling there must have been in that room. The fear had to be palatable. The doors were locked. They had to speak in whispers for fear of detection. They had to reflect on the events of The Last Supper, Gethsemane, the betrayal by one of their own, the denial by one of their own, the suicide, the scourging, the mockery, the scorn, that long journey to Calvary, the crucifixion, the burial, the closed tomb, now the news of the empty tomb. They had to reflect on their own failure to be a supportive presence. When their Leader needed them the most, they were not there. Just a very few were able to stand and be counted, the rest fled in fear. Now, there are the feelings of not just of fear, there are those feelings of helplessness, confusion , bewilderment, hopelessness, frustration, guilt, disappointment, anger, shame, hurt, and pain. As those were the feelings of the disciples, so they are our feeling today. The only thing we have to do is to be honest enough to admit them. Human nature does not change. As it was, so it is, and ever shall be. We, each day have the great challenge of being humble enough to embrace and admit to the human condition.
" We are born human and spend our whole life coming to understand what human means.” An ever deepening reflection on the Paschal Mystery is one of the avenues open to you and I. There are times when we can reflect on this mystery from a distance. Other times life immerse us in a depth we never expected to be in, or in a place we never expected to be at. Life does throw us some real curve balls, and we are left lost beaten and bewildered. We are now ready to encounter the reality of the risen Christ. We are now in the best possible place to receive the gifts He brings. We are lost. We are empty, and emptied out. We are on the best possible place. We are now be open to having a Savior. This Savior brings with Him, Not peace, but Shalom. Shalom is something much more than peace. The wish for Shalom brings with it the following, hold out your emptiness so you can receive the following;
Completeness, wholeness, health, peace welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation and discord.
We think of peace just as the absence of war. The Shalom on The Risen Christ Is so much more than that. It is always there for us. Here is a little exercise I recommend. Take a look at that list. Then take a look at you life's journey. Now make a decision what as regards the particular gift you are in need of right now. As you stand under the shower let the running water be the reality of what you ache for. You will have to leave the shower at some point in time, but let that memory of the running water be a constant reminder of the deeper reality. That reality is GOD pouring down, you as constant stream, that gift you so desire. This constant stream will pore down on you each and every second of the day. I must remind you are in charge of the tap. God cannot take over your free will, He loves you too much. God will not turn that tap for you. I hope and pray you will love yourself enough to enjoy the......Shower........ Of..........Shalom.
=
It is our lives being led as the life of The Contemporary Christ, that gives our life, and every second we lead untold value. In each and every moment of our lives, in each and every action of our lives, we are revealing anew, Jesus Christ. I live, no not I, it is Christ who lives. What an amazing power grace has, and how Gently is it exercised. This gentleness is portrayed in the first meeting of the Risen Christ with His Dispirited disciples .
What a feeling there must have been in that room. The fear had to be palatable. The doors were locked. They had to speak in whispers for fear of detection. They had to reflect on the events of The Last Supper, Gethsemane, the betrayal by one of their own, the denial by one of their own, the suicide, the scourging, the mockery, the scorn, that long journey to Calvary, the crucifixion, the burial, the closed tomb, now the news of the empty tomb. They had to reflect on their own failure to be a supportive presence. When their Leader needed them the most, they were not there. Just a very few were able to stand and be counted, the rest fled in fear. Now, there are the feelings of not just of fear, there are those feelings of helplessness, confusion , bewilderment, hopelessness, frustration, guilt, disappointment, anger, shame, hurt, and pain. As those were the feelings of the disciples, so they are our feeling today. The only thing we have to do is to be honest enough to admit them. Human nature does not change. As it was, so it is, and ever shall be. We, each day have the great challenge of being humble enough to embrace and admit to the human condition.
" We are born human and spend our whole life coming to understand what human means.” An ever deepening reflection on the Paschal Mystery is one of the avenues open to you and I. There are times when we can reflect on this mystery from a distance. Other times life immerse us in a depth we never expected to be in, or in a place we never expected to be at. Life does throw us some real curve balls, and we are left lost beaten and bewildered. We are now ready to encounter the reality of the risen Christ. We are now in the best possible place to receive the gifts He brings. We are lost. We are empty, and emptied out. We are on the best possible place. We are now be open to having a Savior. This Savior brings with Him, Not peace, but Shalom. Shalom is something much more than peace. The wish for Shalom brings with it the following, hold out your emptiness so you can receive the following;
Completeness, wholeness, health, peace welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation and discord.
We think of peace just as the absence of war. The Shalom on The Risen Christ Is so much more than that. It is always there for us. Here is a little exercise I recommend. Take a look at that list. Then take a look at you life's journey. Now make a decision what as regards the particular gift you are in need of right now. As you stand under the shower let the running water be the reality of what you ache for. You will have to leave the shower at some point in time, but let that memory of the running water be a constant reminder of the deeper reality. That reality is GOD pouring down, you as constant stream, that gift you so desire. This constant stream will pore down on you each and every second of the day. I must remind you are in charge of the tap. God cannot take over your free will, He loves you too much. God will not turn that tap for you. I hope and pray you will love yourself enough to enjoy the......Shower........ Of..........Shalom.
=
Saturday, April 3, 2010
From Death to New Life
The Pascal Mystery transforms, transfigures and leads an always and new and different way of living. It bestows on us the great gift of hope, that death is not, “the final word on life or despair the final days of human beings”. [Boff] As we make our journey into the light of the resurrection, we will be led again and again to the understanding that out of all of our pain, sorrow, and brokenness, comes new life and wonderful gifts. We will be led to the belief that the “greater the wound, the greater the pain…the greater the gift”. That is why each year, we are “dipped and dyed” in the Pascal Mystery to be awakened and to celebrate the new life that has come to us from what we thought was death. Death is never the end, it is always the beginning.
The Pascal Mystery is first and foremost a mystery. This mystery teaches that with every beginning there is an ending and with every ending there is a new beginning. It is a mystery dealing with the deepest working of God's grace. A mystery dealing with death, burial and new life. A spiritual mystery such as this cannot be explained, it can only be entered into and treated with reverence. I would like to suggest this year, more than ever, we need to open ourselves up to what this week offers in the way of hope, consolation and the promise of radical new life. This will come to us through the power of honesty, honesty about our everyday experience. There can be no spiritual growth unless we are developing a progressive honesty which is about embracing what is real. Where there is no honesty, there is no reality. So, there is no God. When we want to get a grip on reality and the Pascal Mystery within us, here are a number of words you and I cannot have in our vocabulary, the following are many words which have no connection with reality:
could, would, should, what if, if, if only, when, ought, try, interesting, or any similar words used to deny our real feelings and our real emotions.
A number of years ago, I read a book by Fr. Ronald Holheiser which enabled me to enter into a new and better life-giving understanding of what the Pascal Mystery is all about. In his book, The Holy Longing, he explains the difference between terminal death and Pascal death. "Terminal death is a death that ends life and then possibility. Pascal death, like terminal death, is real, however, Pascal death is a death that, while ending one kind of life, opens a person undergoing it to receive a deeper and richer form of life. The image of the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying so as to produce new life is an image of Pascal death. Then resurrected life...is the reception of a radically new life... The Pascal Mystery is about Pascal death and resurrected life."
Continuing on, in the same chapter entitled "The Spirituality of the Pascal Mystery", we read the following:
The Pascal Mystery might be diagrammed as follows:
1) Good Friday...The loss of life-real death
2) Easter Sunday..."the reception of new life"
3) The Forty Days..."a time for readjustment to the new, and grieving the old"
4) Ascension..."letting go of the old and letting it bless you, the refusal to claim"
5) Pentecost..."the reception of new spirit, for the new life that one is already living"
Put into a more colloquial language and stated as personal Pascal challenge for each one of us, one might recap this diagram this way:
1) "Name of your death"
2) "Claim your birth"
3) "Grieve what you have lost and adjust to the new reality"
4) "Do not cling to the old, let it ascend and give you its blessing"
5) "Accept the spirit of the life that you are in fact living"
This cycle is not something we must undergo just once...It is rather something we must undergo daily, in every aspect of our lives. Christ spoke of many deaths, of daily deaths and of many risings and various Pentecosts. The Pascal Mystery is the secret to life. Ultimately, our happiness depends upon properly undergoing it... Unless we die in infancy, we will have many deaths in our lives and within each one of these we must receive new life and new spirit. Daily we must undergo the Pascal Mystery.
In her book, Little Pieces of Light, Sister Joyce has this to say, "Being able to let go and let God take over one's life demands a tremendous amount of trust in this Divine Companion. Thomas Merton writes that, 'True love and prayer are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone'. It is in within the hour of our greatest darkness that we discovered that we are never really alone. It is a time when we learn to trust as Gods love is much more than we ever imagined." This gives us the great freedom to be able to sing our Hallelujahs with real gusto. Death has turned into life. Christ is risen and is alive within you and me.
"O happy fault of Adam that has revealed to us such a God."
The Pascal Mystery is first and foremost a mystery. This mystery teaches that with every beginning there is an ending and with every ending there is a new beginning. It is a mystery dealing with the deepest working of God's grace. A mystery dealing with death, burial and new life. A spiritual mystery such as this cannot be explained, it can only be entered into and treated with reverence. I would like to suggest this year, more than ever, we need to open ourselves up to what this week offers in the way of hope, consolation and the promise of radical new life. This will come to us through the power of honesty, honesty about our everyday experience. There can be no spiritual growth unless we are developing a progressive honesty which is about embracing what is real. Where there is no honesty, there is no reality. So, there is no God. When we want to get a grip on reality and the Pascal Mystery within us, here are a number of words you and I cannot have in our vocabulary, the following are many words which have no connection with reality:
could, would, should, what if, if, if only, when, ought, try, interesting, or any similar words used to deny our real feelings and our real emotions.
A number of years ago, I read a book by Fr. Ronald Holheiser which enabled me to enter into a new and better life-giving understanding of what the Pascal Mystery is all about. In his book, The Holy Longing, he explains the difference between terminal death and Pascal death. "Terminal death is a death that ends life and then possibility. Pascal death, like terminal death, is real, however, Pascal death is a death that, while ending one kind of life, opens a person undergoing it to receive a deeper and richer form of life. The image of the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying so as to produce new life is an image of Pascal death. Then resurrected life...is the reception of a radically new life... The Pascal Mystery is about Pascal death and resurrected life."
Continuing on, in the same chapter entitled "The Spirituality of the Pascal Mystery", we read the following:
The Pascal Mystery might be diagrammed as follows:
1) Good Friday...The loss of life-real death
2) Easter Sunday..."the reception of new life"
3) The Forty Days..."a time for readjustment to the new, and grieving the old"
4) Ascension..."letting go of the old and letting it bless you, the refusal to claim"
5) Pentecost..."the reception of new spirit, for the new life that one is already living"
Put into a more colloquial language and stated as personal Pascal challenge for each one of us, one might recap this diagram this way:
1) "Name of your death"
2) "Claim your birth"
3) "Grieve what you have lost and adjust to the new reality"
4) "Do not cling to the old, let it ascend and give you its blessing"
5) "Accept the spirit of the life that you are in fact living"
This cycle is not something we must undergo just once...It is rather something we must undergo daily, in every aspect of our lives. Christ spoke of many deaths, of daily deaths and of many risings and various Pentecosts. The Pascal Mystery is the secret to life. Ultimately, our happiness depends upon properly undergoing it... Unless we die in infancy, we will have many deaths in our lives and within each one of these we must receive new life and new spirit. Daily we must undergo the Pascal Mystery.
In her book, Little Pieces of Light, Sister Joyce has this to say, "Being able to let go and let God take over one's life demands a tremendous amount of trust in this Divine Companion. Thomas Merton writes that, 'True love and prayer are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone'. It is in within the hour of our greatest darkness that we discovered that we are never really alone. It is a time when we learn to trust as Gods love is much more than we ever imagined." This gives us the great freedom to be able to sing our Hallelujahs with real gusto. Death has turned into life. Christ is risen and is alive within you and me.
"O happy fault of Adam that has revealed to us such a God."
Saturday, March 27, 2010
T....transformation....transfiguration
Last week we left off with the younger son, the rebellious one, back safe and secure, in the home of his prodigal Father. His dream for you and I, is to live a life that is grounded in the reality of His love. A love, that to the calculating eye, makes no sense. (Thank God, our God is like that.) This son has returned, not as hired hand, as he wanted to be, he has come back to his inheritance, as son. He did not earn it, actually, far from it. He did not deserve it, he was just given it. There is a little battle here. The son wanted to be as, "one of the hired hands",. Hired hands come and go, a son, has to remain. He has also the responsibility of growing up to be, a father. To be a responsible father to himself, and to future generations. What a wonder- full example that son had to model his fatherhood on. This goes for women as well. Women have to be responsible mothers to themselves ,first, then becoming healthy mothers, of the coming generations. All of what has been just written demands, a great deal of hard work. Giving birth to who we really are, is never easy. This birthing cannot happen, without grace. It is grace that calls us to this new reality. A reality that emerges from a place , and at a time we least expect. This birthing is a NEVER ending process.
So, the party is going on. A celebration, that is going on to celebrate the return of the son, safe and sound. A celebration, the father said "has to happen". He had no choice but to celebrate. Because of this, there is one very unhappy camper-the eldest son. Brother of the rebellious one. Up until now he has been the hardworking, obedient one. That is up to now. Now when he sees what has happened, he goes ballistic on the father. He is so caught up in his anger and resentment he does not address him as father. He does not recognize
his relationship with his brother. He calls him "that son of yours". The father must have been taken aback by the appearance of this aspect of this son, who up to now, appeared so respectful. He now appears to be full of anger and resentment. He will not go into the party. His resentment is preventing him from joining the celebration. How sad that picture is. The standoff between the father who is celebrating, and the son standing there, seemingly unmoved by what has transpired. There we have the confrontation, between thanksgiving, gratitude, and resentment. The battle that rages in your soul, and mine. These two realities cannot coexist. They are mutually exclusive. We have to make the decision, are we going with the desire to be the prodigal mother/ father, or are we going to live out our lives in resentment. We have the choice of showing compassion to the rebellious, just like the father, or turn our backs and live our lives in isolation.
John'O Donohue has written the following, in his great classic 'ANAM CARA",
"To the resentful eye, everything is begrudged. People who allowed the canker of resentment into their vision can never enjoy who they are or what they have. They are always looking outward others with resentment. Perhaps they are resentful because they see others as more beautiful, more gifted, or richer than themselves. The resentful eye lives out of its own inner poverty and forgets its own inner harvest."
In order to enter the great celebration of, death and resurrection, let us bring both the rebellious, and the resentful parts of us to the reconciling love of our Prodigal Father. We die a little each time we acknowledge the fact this reconciliation is not the result of anything we can do. The reconciliation will come in God's time not in our time, nor unfortunately, according to our schedule. We will have to spend way more time with our rebellious and resentful selves that we really ever wanted to. (At least that is my experience.) This dying is a Paschal Death, bringing with it new life. With this new life comes the experience of a new freedom. A new vitality has entered our lives.
Again O'DONOHUE writes,
"When you awaken to your incredible freedom, the walls of your inner prisons gradually become the thresholds of your new life, your place of new growth".
This new life of real freedom, is God's Ashling, God's dream for you and I. His dream for you and I, is a live to be loved in His reality. "In Him we are to live and move and have our being”. Let us then entrust ourselves, without reservation, to the loving, compassionate embrace of our Prodigal Father. It is real scary to say "not my will, but your will be done". He will take us at our word.
Through the desert of our weakness, and our brokenness, we will be guided ever so gently, to that Promised land were all things, are being made new. In this new, and unfamiliar land we are in the process of becoming, one. We are in the process of becoming, whole. We are in the process of becoming, holy. Yes, it is a painful process. Yes, we enter this experience of dying and rising again and again (Lent is every year). Each time we experience the abandonment at an ever deepening level. We will cry out from a different place , "my God, my God why have toy abandoned me". We enter the fullness of our participation in the dying and rising slowly. We have to gradually prepare for the ongoing immersion into the Paschal Mystery. We must also be prepared for a deepening of the celebration, and all that comes with that. The peace, joy, and love that is beyond our expectation, and our ability to understand. There is a radical
transformation, and transfiguration taking place in us. What that is, is none of our business. Ours is to enjoy, to celebrate, and so fulfill Our God's fondest dream for you and I. We are to be the ongoing, living, breathing, contemporary reality of His BELOVED son, Jesus, who is the Christ.
So, the party is going on. A celebration, that is going on to celebrate the return of the son, safe and sound. A celebration, the father said "has to happen". He had no choice but to celebrate. Because of this, there is one very unhappy camper-the eldest son. Brother of the rebellious one. Up until now he has been the hardworking, obedient one. That is up to now. Now when he sees what has happened, he goes ballistic on the father. He is so caught up in his anger and resentment he does not address him as father. He does not recognize
his relationship with his brother. He calls him "that son of yours". The father must have been taken aback by the appearance of this aspect of this son, who up to now, appeared so respectful. He now appears to be full of anger and resentment. He will not go into the party. His resentment is preventing him from joining the celebration. How sad that picture is. The standoff between the father who is celebrating, and the son standing there, seemingly unmoved by what has transpired. There we have the confrontation, between thanksgiving, gratitude, and resentment. The battle that rages in your soul, and mine. These two realities cannot coexist. They are mutually exclusive. We have to make the decision, are we going with the desire to be the prodigal mother/ father, or are we going to live out our lives in resentment. We have the choice of showing compassion to the rebellious, just like the father, or turn our backs and live our lives in isolation.
John'O Donohue has written the following, in his great classic 'ANAM CARA",
"To the resentful eye, everything is begrudged. People who allowed the canker of resentment into their vision can never enjoy who they are or what they have. They are always looking outward others with resentment. Perhaps they are resentful because they see others as more beautiful, more gifted, or richer than themselves. The resentful eye lives out of its own inner poverty and forgets its own inner harvest."
In order to enter the great celebration of, death and resurrection, let us bring both the rebellious, and the resentful parts of us to the reconciling love of our Prodigal Father. We die a little each time we acknowledge the fact this reconciliation is not the result of anything we can do. The reconciliation will come in God's time not in our time, nor unfortunately, according to our schedule. We will have to spend way more time with our rebellious and resentful selves that we really ever wanted to. (At least that is my experience.) This dying is a Paschal Death, bringing with it new life. With this new life comes the experience of a new freedom. A new vitality has entered our lives.
Again O'DONOHUE writes,
"When you awaken to your incredible freedom, the walls of your inner prisons gradually become the thresholds of your new life, your place of new growth".
This new life of real freedom, is God's Ashling, God's dream for you and I. His dream for you and I, is a live to be loved in His reality. "In Him we are to live and move and have our being”. Let us then entrust ourselves, without reservation, to the loving, compassionate embrace of our Prodigal Father. It is real scary to say "not my will, but your will be done". He will take us at our word.
Through the desert of our weakness, and our brokenness, we will be guided ever so gently, to that Promised land were all things, are being made new. In this new, and unfamiliar land we are in the process of becoming, one. We are in the process of becoming, whole. We are in the process of becoming, holy. Yes, it is a painful process. Yes, we enter this experience of dying and rising again and again (Lent is every year). Each time we experience the abandonment at an ever deepening level. We will cry out from a different place , "my God, my God why have toy abandoned me". We enter the fullness of our participation in the dying and rising slowly. We have to gradually prepare for the ongoing immersion into the Paschal Mystery. We must also be prepared for a deepening of the celebration, and all that comes with that. The peace, joy, and love that is beyond our expectation, and our ability to understand. There is a radical
transformation, and transfiguration taking place in us. What that is, is none of our business. Ours is to enjoy, to celebrate, and so fulfill Our God's fondest dream for you and I. We are to be the ongoing, living, breathing, contemporary reality of His BELOVED son, Jesus, who is the Christ.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
R...Radical Change
To those who are new to this blog, we are now in the second year. In an effort to not repeat myself, (which as you know, I do real
Well), I am going to ask you to please go back and reread the blogs of this time last year. That would be the weeks beginning March 4th, 2009.
During this season of Lent, we are made very much aware of three realities. The reality of sin, the reality of God's compassion, and our need for ongoing conversion. Many times we get so caught up in the sin part, we do not focus enough on the compassion part. We are so inclined to believe the bad, and fight the good about ourselves, and the duty of our deepest reality. I like that saying, "God help me to believe the truth about myself, no matter how BEAUTIFUL it is."
The wonder-full, beauty-full, mysterious compassion of our God is constantly being revealed to us. This revelation takes place in our ongoing, deepening understanding of who our God really is. This reality is revealed to us, in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the enfleshment of the compassion of God. He came to reveal, to model for us, the real compassion, which will confront our imagined concepts of the same. These will always sell God short. Nobody can forgive us the way our God forgives. His is, an infinite Compassion, and Forgiveness. The experience we have of the forgiveness of others, no matter how good it is, is still limited. God's compassion is unlimited, unrestricted, unconditioned and infinite. Jesus having assumed our humanity, was able, through His mission and ministry, to encounter real people, in real human experiences. In that encounter was able to reveal the mystery of God's unconditioned love for us. He met the people as they were, doing what was their lot in life. They were greeted with no judgment, no condition. "You are who you are, and I love you. Will you allow Me to love you?”. This to my mind was the approach of Jesus, and nothing has changed in the meantime. That was his approach to The Samaritan Woman, to the woman caught in adultery, to Zacchaeus (up a tree), and Levi collecting taxes. All were, in the minds of the many, people to be condemned, avoided, and shunned. Jesus, as the mind and heart of God, sees the essential goodness. As it was, so it is, with you and I. Thank God we have those consoling words of scripture, "not as man sees does God see, because man see the appearance but God looks into the heart." When he looks into our hearts, all he sees is the indwelling of His family, the Holy Trinity. In that loving gaze, into our hearts, all our God sees is, LOVE.
Fr.. Rohr points out this amazing fact, 75% of the parables of Jesus were all about mercy and compassion. And people say I repeat myself?.
My favorite, it the Parable of The Prodigal Father. In that gospel we meet THREE people we encounter each and every moment of our spiritual journey. They are present in each and every one of us. It has been pointed out, the younger son, the rebellious one, is us in the first half of life. The resentful one is you and I, in the second half of life. We as the prodigal father/mother must grow in our unconditioned love of both. We must grow in reconciliation with both so we can life a fuller, and a more joyful life. This reconciliation process involves a change.
Change. Who likes change? We all like certainty, we all like the familiar. To change, we have to let go of something, and wait for, as of yet, the unknown. That is what Paschal death is all about. That is why we celebrate that reality year after year, because it is our reality day after day, moment after moment -The change, the new life that comes to us, from death and loss. There are times we have to take responsibility for the death, and or loss. Other times we are caught up in the reality of life, and the pain that life brings with it.
The rebellious son, brings it on himself. In a desire to after an apparent good, he brings hurt to his family. When he asks his father for his inheritance. What he is actually saying is, "I cannot wait for you to die to get the money coming to me, so i want it now". Wrong, he had no right to the money. It was the fathers’ to give, after his death. The prodigal father gives him the money. Off goes the son. Away from his home, to a far off land. He leaves home. He turns his back on the place where he was the beloved, and all that it meant to be the beloved. We, too, leave that place where we call home. As we are caught up in those voices that trumpet, oh so loudly, the praises of power, popularity, pleasure, and prestige, we leave home. Henri Nouwen points out, anger, resentment, jealousy, desire for revenge, lust, greed, antagonisms, and rivalries are obvious signs we have left home. He goes on to say that happens quite easily. Rather than focusing on being the beloved, I can be caught up in finding myself brooding about someone else's success, my own loneliness. I can catch myself daydreaming about becoming rich and famous. I get caught up in the fear of not being liked, blamed, put aside, passed over, ignored, persecuted, and killed. This will lead to constantly developing strategies to defend myself and thereby assure myself of the love I need and deserve. With that frame of mind we are in deep doo-doo. We are deep, in the manure of the pig sty. When all seems to be lost, it is then things begin to change.
The gospel say the rebellious one, "coming to his senses", came to remember the truth about who he really was and where he came from. In that moment of conversion, he was on the way BACK, to where his true home lay. [That is what conversion is….turning around and going the opposite direction.] That memory of the place where he was the beloved, started him on the journey homeward. As it is so easy for us to leave home we need to constantly be vigilant of where our thoughts are, and where they are leading us to. Lent is the season when we are asked to face that which we allow, to force us from our true home. Lent affords the opportunity to reclaim, who we are as the Beloved (son/daughter). Lent provides the great opportunity to rethink what is of lasting value, rather than concentrating on that what is of its nature , transitory.
It is in our pig sties, our Good Shepherd finds us, or can I say, catches up with us. In that pig sty we are weak, hungry, and discouraged. We are lost in our guilt, fear and shame. In that place of “lostness”, we are found. Our GOOD Shepherd gently lifts us out of that place of torment, places us on his strong shoulders and carries us home. On that journey home, we come to realize, the Good Shepherd is not only the one who carries us home, he is FOOD for the journey as well. How generous our God is. In that return journey, there is a radical change brought about, by grace. We come to realize and gradual accept, we are never lost. There is no place, where our God cannot find us. There is no limit to His compassion, His love, His forgiveness, or His relentless search for us. The only limit, is the limit, that we impose. Let us look deep inside, and honestly accept that part we shun, avoid, condemn, and persecute. We have created our own pig sty. We must invite the Good Shepherd to come and work the miracle of his reconciling, transforming love.
"Out of the depths I cry, I cry to you O Lord, Lord hear my cry",
"A humbled and broken heart you will not spurn",
"As far as the east is from the west so far have your sins been placed behind you"
Next week….. "The tough one"
Well), I am going to ask you to please go back and reread the blogs of this time last year. That would be the weeks beginning March 4th, 2009.
During this season of Lent, we are made very much aware of three realities. The reality of sin, the reality of God's compassion, and our need for ongoing conversion. Many times we get so caught up in the sin part, we do not focus enough on the compassion part. We are so inclined to believe the bad, and fight the good about ourselves, and the duty of our deepest reality. I like that saying, "God help me to believe the truth about myself, no matter how BEAUTIFUL it is."
The wonder-full, beauty-full, mysterious compassion of our God is constantly being revealed to us. This revelation takes place in our ongoing, deepening understanding of who our God really is. This reality is revealed to us, in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the enfleshment of the compassion of God. He came to reveal, to model for us, the real compassion, which will confront our imagined concepts of the same. These will always sell God short. Nobody can forgive us the way our God forgives. His is, an infinite Compassion, and Forgiveness. The experience we have of the forgiveness of others, no matter how good it is, is still limited. God's compassion is unlimited, unrestricted, unconditioned and infinite. Jesus having assumed our humanity, was able, through His mission and ministry, to encounter real people, in real human experiences. In that encounter was able to reveal the mystery of God's unconditioned love for us. He met the people as they were, doing what was their lot in life. They were greeted with no judgment, no condition. "You are who you are, and I love you. Will you allow Me to love you?”. This to my mind was the approach of Jesus, and nothing has changed in the meantime. That was his approach to The Samaritan Woman, to the woman caught in adultery, to Zacchaeus (up a tree), and Levi collecting taxes. All were, in the minds of the many, people to be condemned, avoided, and shunned. Jesus, as the mind and heart of God, sees the essential goodness. As it was, so it is, with you and I. Thank God we have those consoling words of scripture, "not as man sees does God see, because man see the appearance but God looks into the heart." When he looks into our hearts, all he sees is the indwelling of His family, the Holy Trinity. In that loving gaze, into our hearts, all our God sees is, LOVE.
Fr.. Rohr points out this amazing fact, 75% of the parables of Jesus were all about mercy and compassion. And people say I repeat myself?.
My favorite, it the Parable of The Prodigal Father. In that gospel we meet THREE people we encounter each and every moment of our spiritual journey. They are present in each and every one of us. It has been pointed out, the younger son, the rebellious one, is us in the first half of life. The resentful one is you and I, in the second half of life. We as the prodigal father/mother must grow in our unconditioned love of both. We must grow in reconciliation with both so we can life a fuller, and a more joyful life. This reconciliation process involves a change.
Change. Who likes change? We all like certainty, we all like the familiar. To change, we have to let go of something, and wait for, as of yet, the unknown. That is what Paschal death is all about. That is why we celebrate that reality year after year, because it is our reality day after day, moment after moment -The change, the new life that comes to us, from death and loss. There are times we have to take responsibility for the death, and or loss. Other times we are caught up in the reality of life, and the pain that life brings with it.
The rebellious son, brings it on himself. In a desire to after an apparent good, he brings hurt to his family. When he asks his father for his inheritance. What he is actually saying is, "I cannot wait for you to die to get the money coming to me, so i want it now". Wrong, he had no right to the money. It was the fathers’ to give, after his death. The prodigal father gives him the money. Off goes the son. Away from his home, to a far off land. He leaves home. He turns his back on the place where he was the beloved, and all that it meant to be the beloved. We, too, leave that place where we call home. As we are caught up in those voices that trumpet, oh so loudly, the praises of power, popularity, pleasure, and prestige, we leave home. Henri Nouwen points out, anger, resentment, jealousy, desire for revenge, lust, greed, antagonisms, and rivalries are obvious signs we have left home. He goes on to say that happens quite easily. Rather than focusing on being the beloved, I can be caught up in finding myself brooding about someone else's success, my own loneliness. I can catch myself daydreaming about becoming rich and famous. I get caught up in the fear of not being liked, blamed, put aside, passed over, ignored, persecuted, and killed. This will lead to constantly developing strategies to defend myself and thereby assure myself of the love I need and deserve. With that frame of mind we are in deep doo-doo. We are deep, in the manure of the pig sty. When all seems to be lost, it is then things begin to change.
The gospel say the rebellious one, "coming to his senses", came to remember the truth about who he really was and where he came from. In that moment of conversion, he was on the way BACK, to where his true home lay. [That is what conversion is….turning around and going the opposite direction.] That memory of the place where he was the beloved, started him on the journey homeward. As it is so easy for us to leave home we need to constantly be vigilant of where our thoughts are, and where they are leading us to. Lent is the season when we are asked to face that which we allow, to force us from our true home. Lent affords the opportunity to reclaim, who we are as the Beloved (son/daughter). Lent provides the great opportunity to rethink what is of lasting value, rather than concentrating on that what is of its nature , transitory.
It is in our pig sties, our Good Shepherd finds us, or can I say, catches up with us. In that pig sty we are weak, hungry, and discouraged. We are lost in our guilt, fear and shame. In that place of “lostness”, we are found. Our GOOD Shepherd gently lifts us out of that place of torment, places us on his strong shoulders and carries us home. On that journey home, we come to realize, the Good Shepherd is not only the one who carries us home, he is FOOD for the journey as well. How generous our God is. In that return journey, there is a radical change brought about, by grace. We come to realize and gradual accept, we are never lost. There is no place, where our God cannot find us. There is no limit to His compassion, His love, His forgiveness, or His relentless search for us. The only limit, is the limit, that we impose. Let us look deep inside, and honestly accept that part we shun, avoid, condemn, and persecute. We have created our own pig sty. We must invite the Good Shepherd to come and work the miracle of his reconciling, transforming love.
"Out of the depths I cry, I cry to you O Lord, Lord hear my cry",
"A humbled and broken heart you will not spurn",
"As far as the east is from the west so far have your sins been placed behind you"
Next week….. "The tough one"
Sunday, March 14, 2010
E...Effects
"God of all compassion, Father of all goodness....when weakness causes discouragement, let Your compassion fill us with Hope.....lead to the beauty of Easter joy. Let us keep that in mind, we are praying for Easter joy. That is a particular joy which comes, from us being immersed in the Paschal Mystery. We enter Easter joy, as we leave behind the suffering, and death of the false self. This is a real crucifixion. A crucifixion, where we join The Crucified One, as He went from 'My God my God why have you abandoned me" to “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” There is no Easter joy apart from that journey with the suffering, historical Jesus. That is how the historical Jesus became the Christ of God. We cannot become Christian, unless we follow Him, whom we have been called to be, to that place of suffering, and death. This suffering like all suffering, is a mystery.
This mystery has a name, it is called the Paschal Mystery. It is an essential part of us, who are called Christian. This is what Our Baptism call really means for us, on a daily basis. It is only on a daily basis we can enter into and gradually understand this mystery. This will lead us to gain a personal insight as to how we are living out this mystery. You have heard the saying "Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived". This why we have Lent. This mystery is so vast, and personal, we spend 40 days (LENT) preparing ourselves to celebrate the Paschal mystery. We will take three full days to celebrate [Tridium]. Then we will have another 50 days to come to a new, and more life-giving understanding, as how we encounter that reality, in the reality of our everyday living.
The Paschal Mystery is about death, dying, and entering NEW life. In is not the same as terminal, death. In terminal death, there is death, once, forever. Paschal death, on the other hand is a death we enter again, and again. The pain goes deeper, and the new life we are led to becomes more and more joyous, not necessarily happier. That sounds weird? I have had a great deal of trouble becoming reconciled with that one. I have come to the belief, that it is true. All our pain and suffering, is actually the suffering of Christ, within you and I. Our God suffers in us, through us, and with us. We NEVER suffer alone. We may think it, we may feel it, but at our deepest reality, it is God and us who are doing the suffering. The suffering of the MAN-GOD, led to a new life so our association with Him, and our participation with Him leads us also to a new and transformed life. The pain of death gives way to new life. The pain is not really a death pain it is a life giving pain. It is the birthing pain of you and I, as we enter into the reality of who we really are, in God's plan. This is the pain of the desert journey. The pain of the desert journey leads to the far greater pain of Gethsemane. It was there that Jesus in His loneliness and fear asks that the chalice he will have to drink of, would be taken from Him. We were there in that suffering. We were also present in His body in the excruciating pain of the abandonment of the cross. We were there in His body, so now as we continue the suffering of Christ as His body, He suffers with us. Where He was, we are, where we are so He is. Mystery, to be not understood, but entered into with reverence.
The prayer of this week provides us with the strengthening hope necessary for this journey. Our journey into death, dying, and rising to new life in and with our Savior, Jesus Christ. For me, this is one of the greatest prayers of the whole year. Type it out, and place it in a place you can see it on a daily basis. Say it and reflect on it each and every day. Why? Because it is in our everyday living we constantly encounter the reality of the mystery, so it is each and every day we need this great reassuring gift.
"May our faith, hope, and love, turn
Hatred to love, conflict to peace,
death to eternal life.
This then is the other, "E", of desert. This “E” stands for EFFECTS. Our desert journey brings about, a radical change within you and I. It is a real encounter, with all that it means to be a limited human being, in the crucible, of our every day living. This can and does, when allowed, bring to you and I a peace which is beyond all understanding. We are led through the many deaths, we endure in our daily living, to the real life of our union with Christ. This life reveals a new light into the sacramentality of every moment. This daily encounter with the sacred in each and every person place and event (sacrament) will bring home to us, the great love our God has for us. This love will come to us, not in the people, or places we expect, but in the persons and places we least expect. The Spirit of The RISEN blows where it wills, and we will gradually, and oh so gradually, come to see and accept that reality.
This mystery has a name, it is called the Paschal Mystery. It is an essential part of us, who are called Christian. This is what Our Baptism call really means for us, on a daily basis. It is only on a daily basis we can enter into and gradually understand this mystery. This will lead us to gain a personal insight as to how we are living out this mystery. You have heard the saying "Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived". This why we have Lent. This mystery is so vast, and personal, we spend 40 days (LENT) preparing ourselves to celebrate the Paschal mystery. We will take three full days to celebrate [Tridium]. Then we will have another 50 days to come to a new, and more life-giving understanding, as how we encounter that reality, in the reality of our everyday living.
The Paschal Mystery is about death, dying, and entering NEW life. In is not the same as terminal, death. In terminal death, there is death, once, forever. Paschal death, on the other hand is a death we enter again, and again. The pain goes deeper, and the new life we are led to becomes more and more joyous, not necessarily happier. That sounds weird? I have had a great deal of trouble becoming reconciled with that one. I have come to the belief, that it is true. All our pain and suffering, is actually the suffering of Christ, within you and I. Our God suffers in us, through us, and with us. We NEVER suffer alone. We may think it, we may feel it, but at our deepest reality, it is God and us who are doing the suffering. The suffering of the MAN-GOD, led to a new life so our association with Him, and our participation with Him leads us also to a new and transformed life. The pain of death gives way to new life. The pain is not really a death pain it is a life giving pain. It is the birthing pain of you and I, as we enter into the reality of who we really are, in God's plan. This is the pain of the desert journey. The pain of the desert journey leads to the far greater pain of Gethsemane. It was there that Jesus in His loneliness and fear asks that the chalice he will have to drink of, would be taken from Him. We were there in that suffering. We were also present in His body in the excruciating pain of the abandonment of the cross. We were there in His body, so now as we continue the suffering of Christ as His body, He suffers with us. Where He was, we are, where we are so He is. Mystery, to be not understood, but entered into with reverence.
The prayer of this week provides us with the strengthening hope necessary for this journey. Our journey into death, dying, and rising to new life in and with our Savior, Jesus Christ. For me, this is one of the greatest prayers of the whole year. Type it out, and place it in a place you can see it on a daily basis. Say it and reflect on it each and every day. Why? Because it is in our everyday living we constantly encounter the reality of the mystery, so it is each and every day we need this great reassuring gift.
"May our faith, hope, and love, turn
Hatred to love, conflict to peace,
death to eternal life.
This then is the other, "E", of desert. This “E” stands for EFFECTS. Our desert journey brings about, a radical change within you and I. It is a real encounter, with all that it means to be a limited human being, in the crucible, of our every day living. This can and does, when allowed, bring to you and I a peace which is beyond all understanding. We are led through the many deaths, we endure in our daily living, to the real life of our union with Christ. This life reveals a new light into the sacramentality of every moment. This daily encounter with the sacred in each and every person place and event (sacrament) will bring home to us, the great love our God has for us. This love will come to us, not in the people, or places we expect, but in the persons and places we least expect. The Spirit of The RISEN blows where it wills, and we will gradually, and oh so gradually, come to see and accept that reality.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
S... Selfishness...Self-centeredness
“Let us pray for confidence in the love of God and the strength to overcome all our weakness. Father, you have taught us to overcome our sins by prayer, fasting, and works of mercy. When we are discouraged by our weakness, give us confidence in your love.”
This is the opening prayer of this weekend's Mass. How appropriate for this time of Lent when we will be led, by the scriptures, to face the fact that all of us, yes, all of us, are sinners. We have sinned and will in the future sin, again and again. We are in constant need of conversion, and renewal. That is why we have this season of Lent, every year. In Arizona, we have that rite of Spring-Spring Training. Is it because the players have forgotten how to play the game? Of course not. This is the opportunity to get back to basics and practice them again, again, and again, until they become automatic. Then in the heat of a pressure game, they do not have to think of what to do, it comes automatically. That triple play is practiced over and over. We, in the spiritual life, have a triple play as well, it is called prayer, fasting, and alms giving. This triple play is given to us so when we will face the triple threat of "the toxic trinity" (guilt, fear, and shame), we will not have to think, we will have the inner strength, to respond in a spiritually healthy way. In prayer, we will be led, by grace, to an ever-deepening belief that we are the beloved. Nothing that we can or will do, can change that reality. This is a gift that is offered to us, let us pray for the acceptance of that gift. It is in this acceptance our lives have changed by God’s grace not by us.
Lent leads us beyond the guilt, fear, and shame of our sins. We will be led from discouragement to the confidence in the prodigal, extravagant, reckless love our gracious God has for you and I. That is a choice we have to make, not each and every day, no, that choice is made each and every MOMENT. Yes, each and every, NOW moment we are going to be life-givers to ourselves, and a consequence to others. We can also, by our now decisions, be death-dealers to ourselves, and others. We will always see others through the lens of our reality, just as others do not see or cannot see us, except through their reality.
That is very freeing. This brings to the Question, through what lens does God see us? I go back to this prayer of Thomas Merton again, and again;
“Oh great God, Father of all, Whose infinite light is darkness to me, Whose immensity is to me as the void, You have called me forth out of Yourself because you love me in Yourself, and I am a transient expression of Your inexhaustible and eternal reality. If I could not know You, I would be lost in this darkness, I would fall away from You into this void and if You did not hold me to Yourself in the Heart Your only begotten son. Father I love You whom I do not know, and I embrace You whom I do not see, and I abandon myself to You…because Your love in me Your only begotten son. You see Him in me, You embrace Him in me, because He has willed to identify Himself completely with me by that love which has brought Him to death, for me, on the cross…You have willed to see me only in Him, but in willing this You have willed to see me more really as I am for the sinful self is not my real self, it is not the self You have wanted for me, only the self that I have wanted for myself. And, I no longer want this false self. But now Father, I come to You in your Son’s self for it is in His Sacred Heart that He has taken possession of me and destroyed my sins and it is He who presents me to you. And where? In the sanctuary of His own Heart.?”
That prayer is, for me, a great source of hope and encouragement as I face those tough, confronting words of,1JOHN:8,10,
" If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us...If we say we have not sinned, we make HIM a liar, and His Word is not in us.”
In Lent, we also pray this prayer, “We are to master our sinfulness and conquer our pride". Easier said than done. During our Lenten journey, we have to face the facts that we are selfish and self-centered. We are caught up in what the "I" wants, rather than what God wants for us, and from us. Sin is saying "NO" to God's love and yes to the love of self, which is opposed, and in conflict with God's love for us. We get caught up in control, comparison, and competition, and lose sight of the fact that which is essential, is FREE. This is the "S" of DESERT. It is a real encounter with our powerlessness to do anything that is good. We ALWAYS need grace, and apart from grace nothing of any spiritual value can be accomplished by us. The ONLY thing we have to offer to God, which is all of our own doing is, our sins. This is hard to accept. Acceptance is essential for spiritual growth.
Peter van Breemen writes the following,
"A life without acceptance is a life in which the most basic human need goes unfulfilled. Acceptance means that though there is need for growth I am not forced. I do not have to be the person I am not. Acceptance liberates everything that is in me. Only when I am loved in that deep sense of complete acceptance can I really be myself."
For myself, I do not find acceptance very easy. For me, acceptance can be summed up in my accepting of the fact that I am not accepting, and, that will be on a good day! I have to grow in the acceptance of the unconditioned, unrestricted, unlimited love I am loved with as the beloved. Why? Because NO ONE PERSON in this life, no matter how they wish or how they try cannot make that happen. I will through grace, that mysterious love, of our LOVER GOD can become a deeper reality in our hearts, souls, minds. Henri Nouwen reminds us of what Christ is telling us;
"You have a home....I am your home..claim me as your home....I am where you are..in your innermost being...in your heart."
This then must be or Lenten focus. Not on our faults and failings, but on God's faithful love for us. Acceptance of this love will allow us to be at home. At home in our reality, so when the Lord comes and knocks, we are going to open the door of our soul to the Good Shepherd who has come to claim one of His lost sheep.
“The Lord IS my shepherd, I shall not want, I shall not fear, I will be lead to green pastures, where I will find rest.”
A peaceful rest which comes to me to me when I stop the struggling for power, property, and prestige and surrender to all that is offered, without cost, in that sacred place we call the, "right now'.
This is the opening prayer of this weekend's Mass. How appropriate for this time of Lent when we will be led, by the scriptures, to face the fact that all of us, yes, all of us, are sinners. We have sinned and will in the future sin, again and again. We are in constant need of conversion, and renewal. That is why we have this season of Lent, every year. In Arizona, we have that rite of Spring-Spring Training. Is it because the players have forgotten how to play the game? Of course not. This is the opportunity to get back to basics and practice them again, again, and again, until they become automatic. Then in the heat of a pressure game, they do not have to think of what to do, it comes automatically. That triple play is practiced over and over. We, in the spiritual life, have a triple play as well, it is called prayer, fasting, and alms giving. This triple play is given to us so when we will face the triple threat of "the toxic trinity" (guilt, fear, and shame), we will not have to think, we will have the inner strength, to respond in a spiritually healthy way. In prayer, we will be led, by grace, to an ever-deepening belief that we are the beloved. Nothing that we can or will do, can change that reality. This is a gift that is offered to us, let us pray for the acceptance of that gift. It is in this acceptance our lives have changed by God’s grace not by us.
Lent leads us beyond the guilt, fear, and shame of our sins. We will be led from discouragement to the confidence in the prodigal, extravagant, reckless love our gracious God has for you and I. That is a choice we have to make, not each and every day, no, that choice is made each and every MOMENT. Yes, each and every, NOW moment we are going to be life-givers to ourselves, and a consequence to others. We can also, by our now decisions, be death-dealers to ourselves, and others. We will always see others through the lens of our reality, just as others do not see or cannot see us, except through their reality.
That is very freeing. This brings to the Question, through what lens does God see us? I go back to this prayer of Thomas Merton again, and again;
“Oh great God, Father of all, Whose infinite light is darkness to me, Whose immensity is to me as the void, You have called me forth out of Yourself because you love me in Yourself, and I am a transient expression of Your inexhaustible and eternal reality. If I could not know You, I would be lost in this darkness, I would fall away from You into this void and if You did not hold me to Yourself in the Heart Your only begotten son. Father I love You whom I do not know, and I embrace You whom I do not see, and I abandon myself to You…because Your love in me Your only begotten son. You see Him in me, You embrace Him in me, because He has willed to identify Himself completely with me by that love which has brought Him to death, for me, on the cross…You have willed to see me only in Him, but in willing this You have willed to see me more really as I am for the sinful self is not my real self, it is not the self You have wanted for me, only the self that I have wanted for myself. And, I no longer want this false self. But now Father, I come to You in your Son’s self for it is in His Sacred Heart that He has taken possession of me and destroyed my sins and it is He who presents me to you. And where? In the sanctuary of His own Heart.?”
That prayer is, for me, a great source of hope and encouragement as I face those tough, confronting words of,1JOHN:8,10,
" If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us...If we say we have not sinned, we make HIM a liar, and His Word is not in us.”
In Lent, we also pray this prayer, “We are to master our sinfulness and conquer our pride". Easier said than done. During our Lenten journey, we have to face the facts that we are selfish and self-centered. We are caught up in what the "I" wants, rather than what God wants for us, and from us. Sin is saying "NO" to God's love and yes to the love of self, which is opposed, and in conflict with God's love for us. We get caught up in control, comparison, and competition, and lose sight of the fact that which is essential, is FREE. This is the "S" of DESERT. It is a real encounter with our powerlessness to do anything that is good. We ALWAYS need grace, and apart from grace nothing of any spiritual value can be accomplished by us. The ONLY thing we have to offer to God, which is all of our own doing is, our sins. This is hard to accept. Acceptance is essential for spiritual growth.
Peter van Breemen writes the following,
"A life without acceptance is a life in which the most basic human need goes unfulfilled. Acceptance means that though there is need for growth I am not forced. I do not have to be the person I am not. Acceptance liberates everything that is in me. Only when I am loved in that deep sense of complete acceptance can I really be myself."
For myself, I do not find acceptance very easy. For me, acceptance can be summed up in my accepting of the fact that I am not accepting, and, that will be on a good day! I have to grow in the acceptance of the unconditioned, unrestricted, unlimited love I am loved with as the beloved. Why? Because NO ONE PERSON in this life, no matter how they wish or how they try cannot make that happen. I will through grace, that mysterious love, of our LOVER GOD can become a deeper reality in our hearts, souls, minds. Henri Nouwen reminds us of what Christ is telling us;
"You have a home....I am your home..claim me as your home....I am where you are..in your innermost being...in your heart."
This then must be or Lenten focus. Not on our faults and failings, but on God's faithful love for us. Acceptance of this love will allow us to be at home. At home in our reality, so when the Lord comes and knocks, we are going to open the door of our soul to the Good Shepherd who has come to claim one of His lost sheep.
“The Lord IS my shepherd, I shall not want, I shall not fear, I will be lead to green pastures, where I will find rest.”
A peaceful rest which comes to me to me when I stop the struggling for power, property, and prestige and surrender to all that is offered, without cost, in that sacred place we call the, "right now'.
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