The Need, Not Want of a.....Ranger

I am sure most of you, either have read, or seen what happened to that Michigan man that was killed in Yellowstone Park. The Mary Mountain hike is one of my favorites. It was my intention to hike it again. Well, then I thought it would be a good idea to hike Mallard Lake instead. That was the hike I was on last year when I experienced thunder, lightening, heavy wind, rain and hail. Along with the running streams. I was lucky to get out of that in one piece. Not to make the same mistake again(you see, I am learning!), I went to the visitor’s center so as to check with a ranger. I was lucky to meet a young helpful ranger. I told him about my experience of last year. He was kind enough to check the weather radar and give the all clear. I still had Mary Mountain in the back of my mind, so I asked what bear activity was there in that area. He told me there was a lot of activity in the Upper and Lower Basin, so it would stand to reason that there would be activity in the Mary Mountain area as well. With that information, I decided to forgo Mary Mountain, and I went to Mallard Lake instead. What a good move that was indeed! You can imagine how shocked I was to read in the paper of the death of that unfortunate man. Good information kept me out of harm’s way. Good direction enabled me to make a very healthy decision. Applying common sense to the information I was given, I was able to avoid the danger. Naturally these events were uppermost in my mind. I have had plenty of time to reflect on that close call. What has surfaced from that reflection?

I like to compare the spiritual journey to a long, long marathon hike. All that goes into the preparation for one of these challenges, is required of us who make this journey, as spiritual beings having a very human experience. The only difference is one can choose to take on the challenge of a marathon, or pass on it. I have chosen not to meet that particular challenge. The challenge of the marathon hike, we call the spiritual journey, that is a different matter. In order to have some semblance of sanity, in this life, I for one had no choice but to surrender to the challenge. As I get older,, and who is not right there beside me, I am embracing no, change that, I have no choice but embrace the great words of Merton; “God I have no idea where I am going. I do not know for certain where it will lead to, and I really do not know myself.” I have fewer and fewer answers, but a growing mountain of questions. On reflection, they can all be summed up in the two questions St. Francis had, his whole life; “Who are you God, and who am I?” Simple, yet so profound.

When I am in Yellowstone I go to the rangers for good, fact based information. They, from their experience, will point out to me the different hikes. They will be able to share with the me the challenges, the degree of difficulty, also the great rewards from my efforts. I have to make the decision to take the hike or not. The ranger cannot make the climb for me. It is I, who will ultimately will take a particular trail, and have my own unique experience. Each trail is different. Each and every time you hike is a new and unique experience. No two hikes are ever the same. No two events are ever the same. No two moments are ever the same. God does not repeat Himself. He has, he is, Infinite Imagination. We all are in need of “rangers” who will provide us with the necessary information so we can journey in confidence and safety. The more the research, the more secure and confident the hike. This begs the question, who are the “rangers” we consult on our continuous hike, called spiritual journey? What are the resources we read, research, seeking guidance and counsel? It is essential for our spiritual health, and well being to be in constant contact with a healthy source of information. We are in constant need of information, that will lead to formation. This formation is not for the sake getting information. The formation that is essential is that which will conform us to the will of Our Father, revealed to us in and through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. This results in a battle, no, not a battle, a war. A battle is over and done with, in minutes, hours, days, or in some cases weeks. We are in a war. That war is within. The battlefield is our soul.

My ego wants to be admired, stroked, puffed up, made to feel good. This happens when we allow ourselves to be conformed with that which is on the outside. Power, property, prestige, control, comparisons, competitions, popularity and pleasure are that which will lead us to live a life that is all based on what is on the outside. The inside, the spiritual is neglected and the price to be paid? We live our lives in a constant state of unrest, disharmony, disarray. There is no inner peace, security or serenity. The result is disaster. But let us not lose hope. When we get to the stage where we are facing death and disaster, strange as it may sound, we are in the best possible place. It is now that we are teachable. It is now that we are prepared to read, listen to and reflect on what the “spiritual rangers’ have to say about where we have landed, as the result of listening to the wrong voice of guidance. The voice of the as yet non transformed ego will lead us to many versions of hell, here on earth. The rangers will inform and offer guidance as to how to let go of one way of thinking and acting, so as to be free to enjoy at a level beyond our imagination, an inner life of peace, joy and love. Rather than having “hell on earth”, we will experience partially what will be fully, and eternally ours in heaven. We do not have to fight this war by ourselves. Our Gracious God will provide essential for a life that is “happy, joyous, and free are open hands. Opened in hope and confidence. Our Shepherd Ranger. This will not happened in the way we expect it to happen. It will be a slow process through places and spaces we never imagined would be part of our life’s hike. Life is so full of surprises. It stands to reason that He who is The Author of Life, The Surprise.

Honest Prayer...Leads to What?

The last prayer I quoted last week from the Fourth Sunday in Lent, is one that has to be used often. It will aid us, help us, as we face the challenges on this oh so human journey. The human journey we are called to make as spiritual beings. We are after all aliens. Yes, this is who we are. Because of this reality, whether we like it or not, aliens have so much to teach us about who we are, and who we have been called to be. Each alien is a sacrament, for you and I. In their life's story, is our story with our God as we make our way through "this Vale of tears''. When we look closely, and examine without judgment, the life of an alien we will see a living incarnation of who we are, as individual pilgrims, and as a pilgrim people. The poverty of the alien, is really the poverty that is deep within each one of us. As we grow in reconciliation with that poverty, we will be slowly lead, to the embracing acceptance, of the presence of those who at one time, appeared as a great threat to our security. We will be able to listen with more open and accepting hearts what Jesus has to say in Matt. 25. He tells us He is the hungry one. He is the prisoner. He is the sick one. He is the one away from home. He does not provide ANY EXCUSES. He states the reality. He gives us the bare facts. These are challenging facts, which we as, The Contemporary Christ Presence, we must face up to.

There is a price to be paid when this call is answered. A great price is demanded of not a few, but so many of our sisters and brothers. Look at how many, many martyrs we have in South America, as the struggle for basic human dignity continues. I am happy/sad to say I was in one parish with Sister Dorothy Stang who was assassinated because of her great work for the poor and the oppressed. I have a picture of her dead body lying in a remote area. This is a constant reminder of the price many are prepared to pay so that the fruits of the Redemption reaches ALL not a few. There are so many who have no lived experience of what the Redemption has really brought to humanity. There is so much sacrificial work still to be done. So many martyrs still be be crowned. Many have chosen to take Sr.Dorothy's place. What courage it must take to know that at any given moment the ultimate sacrifice may be demanded of you. Talk about walking the Gospel message, and responding to it's demands. South America, has not only given the church so many martyrs, it has also gifted her with the wonder-full power of The Small Base Communities. What a dynamic presence for radical change that has been. Radical, because it charges the church at it's roots with a new enthusiasm for what is right and just. There is a wonder-full reservoir of spiritual richness available to the whole church from the experience of these people expressed in prayer. Real honest gut prayer, expressing their reality.

We have to admit we have not always been on the right side of the struggle. We were on the convenient side, where there was no danger to be faced. Then, the so called, WEAK, harnessed that eternal inner gift of hope, the result, mystifying. How could the poor, the weak, be so strong? What gave them that inner strength to fight, and not count the cost. The poor, the oppressed, are the channels, the sacraments, through which Our Gracious Father-God, continues to show His "fundamental option" still lies. As it was, so it is, and ever shall be. We all are in a struggle to liberate that which we have imprisoned, that which we have alienated, into the freedom that is ours as the beloved of our heavenly Father. As we are, so all those we see have the self same dignity. As we embrace all the we are, so we will find we will be able to embrace the many, many, disguises Our God comes to us in. He does not come, and never did, in trite answers. We, now more than ever must pray that we do not worship the convenient god of complacency. We must shudder when we think, smugly, we have all the answers. Look at those who crucified the Prophet Jesus. They thought they had all the answers, and were doing right in the taking of His life. How many lives have been taken, in many and various ways, by those who think they have they have all the truth they need, yet fail miserable to see the Real presence of God in the reality that is right before their eyes. How true is that old saying; "There are none so blind as those who WILL not see". Fear keeps them from the TRUE Presence of the living God in the lives of those who they are sitting in judgment of, and condemning. How easy it is to rash judge and condemn, rather than see the person as God's see them. Not the narrow god of our limited understanding, but the infinite loving and compassionate God of Jesus Christ. Without understanding there can be no real acceptance, and reconciliation . That is so very true for ourselves first, then it flows out to those who are placed in our daily lives. There are going to be some real eye-popping surprises in heaven, when it will be revealed to us who really is “THE APPLE OF GOD'S EYE".

I will finish up, no comments please, with a verse from an old Gaelic hymn:
" God.
Your eyes are watchful,
Your ears are listening,
Your lips are speaking,
Friend at my side."

Prayer can be seen as that gentle, misty rain that falls so gentle at times. In Ireland, when that happens, we call it "a soft day", and there are many of them. So then let us allow our prayer to bring about a gradual softening of the hardness with which we so often treat ourselves with. Then what was promised, through the prophet Ezekiel will become a reality for you and I. Through the prophet, our God promises that he will remove from us our hearts of stone. The heart that is critical, unyielding, judgmental, and so very inhuman. He, and only He alone, can replace the former, and in it's place we will be given hearts of flesh. We will be given the human heart. The heart that Jesus Christ modeled, and revealed to us through His life, and especially His death. This Heart of Christ, who will lead us to a life tat will be lived out lived in love, peace, freedom, and joy. Happiness, MAY happen, but it is not the goal. Happens can only happen, it cannot be made to happen. It cannot be bought or manufactured in some way. we are powerless to make happiness happen. It is a by-product of the life that is lived in the knowledge, you are the beloved. That is what has to be claimed," again and again." (Nouwen) May the gentle rain of Our Gracious God descend on the Field/garden of your souls. Then may the harvest that comes to you, be embraced, and accepted, giving you what you need , not what you want.

Prayer....Waters....Refreshes

" God of the universe-God ever close to us we rejoice to call you Father (Mother). From this worlds uncertainty we look to your covenant (of faith full love)..We ask for Your guidance. ..Father in the rising of your Son death gives birth to new life. The suffering He endured restore hope to a fallen world. Let sin never ensnare with empty promises of passing joys...so that our love may give life. Father, let the light of your truth guide us on the way to your kingdom through a world filled with lights contrary to Your own. May your love make us what you have called us to be Father, may the gift of your life continue to grow in us, drawing us from us from death to faith, hope, and love. Keep us alive in Christ. Keep us watchful in prayer, and true to His teachings.....Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide... gifts without measure flow from your goodness to bring us Your peace. Our life is Your gift. Guide us on life's journey, for only You can make us whole (holy). Keep us strong in Your love.... Your Spirit has made us tour children, confident to call you Father. Increase your Spirit (of love), within us. Touch our hearts, help them grow. Touch our lives, make them signs(sacraments) of your love for all humankind.

The above is a composite of opening prayers from the Sundays beginning on the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time through the 19th Sunday. Since I am dealing with the gifts that come from theses prayers I might as well include my own favorite. This is from The Fourth Sunday of Lent:
"God our Father, Your Word, Jesus Christ, spoke peace to a sinful world and brought humankind the gift of reconciliation by the suffering and death He endured. Teach us, the people who bear His name, to follow the example He gave us: may our faith, hope, and charity turn hatred to love, conflict to peace, death to eternal life. "

Now why do not you write, or print out just a few of you comforting, and consoling prayers. Keep them handy so they will be readily available when the need arises. This we can all be certain of, the need will arise, and often We then must be responsible for that which we are able to provide for ourselves. God will not do that. He will not do what He knows we can do. Whether we do it or not, that is our decision. For that we are responsible. Becoming mature is accepting that responsibility. What happens when we pray those prayers that is in our God's domain. We will ALWAYS be given what we need not what we want. Gandhi word come to mind; “God will take care of our needs not our greed". Even into the spiritual life we find lust and greed. That is when we are honest!!!! "Honesty is progressive." But honest prayer will always lead us out of our illusions. We will slowly grow into deeper honesty with ourselves, others, and our God. It is not easy. We have to pray for this gift of honesty. Always keep in mind; "When I am honest about being dishonest, I AM being honest". I have always liked that saying.

So until next week let us keep watering the gardens of our souls through every day prayer. Your work, whatever it may be, IS your prayer. Embrace this reality, and know wherever you are, there is your God. Say Hi to That Presence, in your own unique way. Do it frequently. At first it will feel "weird", then as you develop the habit, through grace, you will become more and more comfortable. You are going to be surprised, and yes, even shocked at the conversations, and at the tone of said conversations. God is not anxious to hear the prayers of others coming from you. He/She is your lover, your beloved waiting, as the hymn says, "right beside you". This Presence IS a living presence, and your life makes it so. What a wonder-full mystery real life is?

Finally......Water

Saint Theresa of Avila saw what watering does for a garden, prayer does for the soul. I will deal with her first way, as this has been my own experience. Just as I had to draw the water to the garden so too we have to draw the water of prayer to the garden, that is our soul. I had to go to the source to fill those drums, so we too must go to The Source of Living Water, Jesus Christ. he Himself claims to be the source, of living water. Now-a-days we have to pay for water. The scriptures reminds us that this living water is free. We are to come without money, but we are to bring a 'soul-bucket" that is empty. The reality and harshness of everyday living empties us, big time. We do not have to live in fear. Our Shepherd Gardner will make sure we will have ALL that is necessary for our safe nourishment and growth. A well can and does run dry. The Fountain of Living Water is an eternal source of all that is necessary for eternal life. We must also keep in mind, the emptier the bucket, the more water we can receive. So when we get to that stage where we are most emptied of any of our own strength, we are in the best possible place. For it now, we are really ready for that which will renew, refresh, and reinvigorate us. We will get what is necessary to “pick up our cross" and continue on behind Him who goes before us, yet is able to share the common yoke. A paradox, yes, embrace this one as you would embrace ant other. Paradoxes are that which stretches us, and draws us into the realm we would not otherwise go to. This one goes with Paul's "It is only when I am weak it is then, I am strong”. Our egos will fight this tooth and nail. The journey into the acceptance of human weakness, and powerlessness in a power-full struggle. One we pray our egos loose. Why of the following. In the Old Testament God, when asked, "Who are you?", answers simple, "I Am, who Am". He also says, "Go and tell them, I Am sent you". We are the small "I am not the Great One”.

Since God's name for Himself is, I Am, then when we are able to say 'I am' strong, we are actually saying, I am, God strong. What a great gift emptiness is??? The following is some of the life giving water that has been offered to you and I over these last number of weeks. The source of this water is from the tap we call ,the opening prayer. Like a cold drink of water, on a scorching Arizona day, this is to be sipped slowly not gulped. down. We all enjoy to feeling of taking that mouth full of water and let it slowly seep it's way down our parched throats. As it works it's way down what a refreshing feeling that is. May that physical reality, become you spiritual reality. So drink freely, but slowly.

"God of the universe-God ever close to us we rejoice to call you Father (Mother).” From this worlds uncertainty we look to your covenant (of faith full love)..We ask for Your guidance. ..Father in the rising of your Son death gives birth to new life. The suffering He endured restore hope to a fallen world. Let sin never ensnare with empty promises of passing joys...so that our love may give life. Father, let the light of your truth guide us on the way to your kingdom through a world filled with lights contrary to Your own. May your love make us what you have called us to be. Father, may the gift of your life continue to grow in us, drawing us from us from death to faith, hope, and love. Keep us alive in Christ. Keep us watchful in prayer, and true to His teachings.....Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide... gifts without measure flow from your goodness to bring us Your peace. Our life is Your gift. Guide us on life's journey, for only You can make us whole(holy). Keep us strong in Your love.... Your Spirit has made us tour children, confident to call you Father. Increase your Spirit(of love), within us. Touch our hearts, help them grow. Touch our lives, make them signs (sacraments) of your love for all humankind.

The above is a composite of opening prayers from the Sundays beginning on the 12th. Sunday of Ordinary Time through the 19th Sunday. Since I am dealing with the gifts that come from theses prayers I might as well include my own favorite. This is from The Fourth Sunday of Lent:
" God our Father, Your Word, Jesus Christ, spoke peace to a sinful world and brought humankind the gift of reconciliation by the suffering and death He endured. Teach us, the people who bear His name, to follow the example He gave us: may our faith, hope, and charity turn hatred to love, conflict to peace, death to eternal life.”

Now, why don’t you write, or print out just a few of these comforting, and consoling prayers. Keep them handy so they will be readily available when the need arises. This we can all be certain of, the need will arise, and often We then must be responsible for that which we are able to provide for ourselves. God will not do that. He will not do what He knows we can do. Whether we do it or not, that is our decision. For that we are responsible. Becoming mature is accepting that responsibility. What happens when we pray those prayers that is in our God's domain. We will ALWAYS be given what we need not what we want. Gandhi word come to mind;
“God will take care of our needs not our greed". Even into the spiritual life we find lust and greed. That is when we are honest!!!! “Honesty is progressive." Gut honest prayer will always lead us out of our illusions.
We will slowly grow into a deeper honesty with ourselves, others, and our God. It is not easy. we have to pray for this gift of honesty. Always keep in mind; "When I am honest about being dishonest, I AM being honest" I have always liked that saying.

So, until next week let us keep watering the gardens of our souls through every day prayer. Your work, whatever it may be, IS your prayer. Embrace this reality, and know wherever you are, there is your God. Say Hi to That Presence, in your own unique way. Do it frequently, at first it will feel "weird", then as you develop the habit, through grace, you will become more and more comfortable. You are going to be surprised, and yes, even shocked at the conversations, and at the tone of said conversations. God is not anxious to hear the prayers of others coming from you. He/She is your lover, your beloved waiting, as the hymn says, "right beside you"

This Presence IS a living presence, and your life makes it so. What a wonder-full mystery real life is?

Waiting....Watering....Not Easy.

The earth, the humus, has been broken open. The seeds, and the seed potatoes, have been planted in the fertilized ground. Is that all there is? Unfortunately not. There is no instant growth, neither in the physical world, or the spiritual world. In both world we have the four W’s. (A), We have to wait, (B), we have to watch, (C), we have to water, and (C), we have to weed. All the above are not just necessary, they are each essential for a healthy, productive garden, and a healthy spirituality. This demands effort, sacrifice, and sad to say, a great deal of patience, all bound together with no expectations.
Waiting, for most of us is very difficult. we want results, and we want them now. Nature says to us, " hold you horses", growth cannot be rushed. There is a process here that has to be followed. If that is not followed then the results are not going to be what was desired, or we were destined to be given. The birth of God's only Son was not rushed. Unexpected, yes, ask Joseph. Mary, like all women had to go through the usual nine months of pregnancy, in order to have a healthy Son. Jesus had to learn the slow process of becoming a good carpenter. He was not able to snap His fingers, and a table and chairs would just suddenly appear. Nope, He had to do it the slow way. Slow is good. So we wait in, "patient expectation", for "the harvest "to appear. While we wait we watch. While we wait we are given the opportunity to rest. Rest from our efforts and surrender to the secret action of grace. This action is invisible . Just as we watch the rows and rows before we , in the beginning see no results. Deep within the earth these is a miracle happening. The seeds as we have sewn them die, they have to. It is the law of nature. Out of that dying new life appears. Unless the seed dies it remains just a single seed, but it is the dying that an abundance appears. So it is with us in our inner life. Where there is no death, there cannot be resurrection and NEW life. The greater the death, the greater the resurrection gifts. This is a guarantee.

We keep a close eye on the garden. We will come to see that it will need, both water and weeding. The water is essential for growth. The weeding is essential, so that a healthy space is provided for growth to happen. When the weeding does not happen, then growth is choked off. Would it not be great if you had to water just once, and weed just once. That is just a pipe dream, nothing to do with reality.

My reality was we did not have an irrigation, or sprinkler system. Actually we did have one, it was named Joe. The garden was a distance from the water source. So it was necessary to draw the water from the source, in five gallon drums. Water is heavy, that I soon discovered. Yet in order for growth to happen, numerous trips had to be taken with those two five gallon drums. In Ireland you can have a Summer with only one fine day. Other years you would only get one wet day. Guess which Summers I was gifted with, the" one wet day" Summer. While I was able to enjoy the beach in Garryvoe, by day, I knew well what was before me each evening. The results were great. We had fine spuds for dinner, to go with the carrots and parsnips. There were tomatoes, lettuce, and onions to make a wonderful salad. As we enjoyed all the good healthy food, not much thought was given to those, five gallon drums.

As the years progressed I have had the opportunity to reflect on those days, weeks and months in the garden. So many authors and mystics use the analogy of , the garden, as the symbol of our souls. as it happens in the garden, so the same reality is within our souls.( Jesus when He taught used the analogy of a field.) We have been called by Our Creator-Father to be co-cultivators of our individually gifted gardens. We are called to cooperate within , The Master Gardner, in the sacred work of the cultivation of our souls. He will not do what has to be done without our cooperation. He cannot get done what He intends, without our cooperation. What trust and faith Our Shepherd Gardner has in us. What a awe-full gift free will is?? Look at what is now within our power. Just as He had to wait for Mary's great YES!, so He waits for our Yes for His creative plan to be realized. That is how much Our God loves us. We have been created out of His freedom, to live, if we so choose, a life of creative freedom.

Here I have to rely on St. Theresa of Avila. She was able to connect the action of watering a garden with four different stages of prayer That is going to be next week effort.

Preparing the Ground....Hard Work

Over the last three weeks we have dealt with the hardpan, rocks, and briars mentioned in the Lord's parable. These are al soul realities for both you and i. These realities are faced by all, who embrace the human condition. This embrace will happen as we make our journey as spiritual beings having a human experience.The above realities are not to be shunned or avoided.These conditions , on the contrary, are to be embraced with the same love our merciful, and gracious God showers upon them. This is a process. it is called reconciliation.It is also called acceptance. Acceptance of our reality, knowing if it is real our God is already at work bringing healing and wholeness, holiness, long before we are even aware of what is happening, or needs to happen. This is the very silent, and mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, the Power of love in our lives.Active denial , active avoidance,will result in us falling deeper into that which we so desperately wish to avoid and deny. There is no running away from who we really are.
Through the power of Love, Grace, we are slowly lead to the belief, and understanding that, low and behold, beneath the hardpan,rocks, and briars is revealed the good fertile earth. The good earth, our essential soul, is the gift of our Gracious Father God.This reality is, and I reiterate,Is, present in each and every human being. there are no exceptions to this reality.There is present in all humans an essential goodness. It is called the heart. The heart, our deepest reality, is the dwelling place of our God. There is that place which has never known sin, or devision. There The Holy Trinity dwells in a unity. We are all called to join them in their life of joyful, loving,unity. This is our destiny, our sole purpose, in this life, as we are prepared for the fullness of that Reality, in heaven.
For this to happen we are faced with hard work. It involves us coming face to face with our broken humanity. We are gently lead , always through grace, to accept that which we cannot do. We surrender all of that which we are powerless over, into the waiting, outstretched hands of Him with whom all things are possible. We have to be constantly reminder The Power of Love, God, is the essence of health. This loving Parent, Father, is not co-dependant. He/she will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.( I wish at times God was a little bit co-dependant.)This love we are lead to see, and believe, is both gentle and challenging.He knows well our weaknesses. He also knows the strength, that lies within us. It is he who has placed that strength within us as His gift to us. I was brought with that saying," God fits the back for the burden. St. Paul assures us we will never, and i repeat never, be teated beyond our strength. I have to remind God, he has more faith in me than i have in myself.In this way, our strengths are reinforced, and our weaknesses transformed into strengths. All of this happens through the miracle of the secret action of Grace. The Holy Spirit is one very quiet, very secretive operator.In the pre Vatican church The Holy Spirit was called, the forgotten person of The Trinity. Not so in to-day's church. I wonder whose work was that?
Now we have the good earth, a new kind of work begins. The earth must be broken open to receive the seed. In the old days there were no power driven machines to dig and spade the ground. The ground of our souls is broken open by the harsh realities of life, death, loss, failure, ill health, divorce, loss of jobs and hence security. The earth, in that garden, had to be broken one fork at a time.It was not easy work, to say the least. "What does not kill you, makes you stronger' i found to be so very true. I did not find that out until later in life. This was back breaking work, or was it back strengthening work?Still later I came to realize that which I was doing on the outside, was great schooling in what was, and is now happening in my inner life.Gardening, farming, is a wonder-full sacrament of what is always happening in the life we cannot see, or easily grasp. Growth in both lead us into a deeper understanding of darkness. It is in darkness all growth happens, right?In the darkness there is a necessary death, so that 'Much fruit may be produced" in abundance.
To jump ahead. The earth has been broken,and fertilized. The seeds, and seed potatoes are in the ground. Is the work finished? No, of course not. Now the work of caring for the garden begins. What happens in a garden has been used by so many spiritual authors to describe the happenings in our souls. Gardens and gardening, as has been mentioned ,are great sacraments. They lead us to deeper insights using what is seen to deepen our knowledge of that which is unseen.
A gardener has to be always alert to what is happening, or not happening. Weeds, that will choke off growth, must be watched for. For growth to happen there must be obviously sun light, and of course water. Water is an essential element in life. It is also essential for the life of the garden. Water for the garden, "water for our souls," where will that take us to?
Well, no pun intended, that will be, hopefully, next weeks effort.

From Briars to Bounty....

My Dad was a police man. Yes, he was an Irish cop. In my younger years we got to move quite a lot. That is why I always have an eye out for newcomers. I was a "newcomer" many times. In some parts of Ireland, we are called "blowins". Our last move as a family was to the village of Castlemartyr. When we got to the kitchen and looked out we saw a back yard, a very large backyard, and a even larger garden. That was the good news. The bad news, the garden was overgrown with briers, thistles and weeds. Let's say that is what I saw. My father, a farmers son, his vision was different, it was. Well let us now fast forward to see where once there was an overgrown disaster, now there is a well ordered garden. With peas, carrots, tomatoes, celery, lettuce and of course rows and rows of "Irish Rice", potatoes. It did not happen overnight, nor in one year. It was a gradual transformation . If my memory serves me right, I spent a good part of at least two Summer vacations in and among those thorns and overgrown weeds. It took a great deal of pain,hard work, sweat and some blood. Encounters with thorns and briers will always, always leave you with a little bloodletting. That adage, "No pain, no gain" was so very true, in this case. There had to be serious effort before the good earth was revealed and a harvest could be harvested. There had to be the clearing away, before the seed could be sewn.

These scenes and thoughts welled up as I listened to, and reflected on the third reality, the seed cast by the Sewer, found Itself. The Seed, The Word of God, The Good News, is received. The circumstances, the reality in which it has been received are not conducive to growth. For growth as authentic, healthy, human beings it is essential we are immersed in an atmosphere of healthy love. Healthy love is indispensable for our healthy spiritual growth. Yes! Healthy, loving, and authentic human living are one and the same. We are told again, and again that we are loved recklessly by our Prodigal Father. A love without any conditions, restrictions, or reservations. Do we believe it? For the most part no. Why? Because nobody in this journey of ours can replicate that love. Human love,"the second love", is of it's essence incapable of meeting this great challenge. As a result, those we love, and say they love us, will hurt us. In the same way the people we so desperately want, and wish to are the victims of our selfishness, and self centeredness. That old song, "We always hurt the ones we love". So the, we hear the wonder-full Good News that there is this extravagant love we hear it with our ears, but never get to accept. We hear "You are loved". The next question that pops up right away, "well what have you done to deserve that"? "What are you going to have to do to repay that love"? "I love you just the way you are." "If you REALLY knew me there is no way you would be saying that." The conversation goes on, and on, like that. We all have that committee in our heads that has a relentless energy, resulting in our endless restlessness. That voice of negativity is always present. That voice has only one purpose, and that is, to prevent you and I from accepting, believing, enjoying, and above all, celebrating The Gospel"s Good News, you have been, are now, and always will be My beloved daughter/son.

That committee, speaks only words that trigger feelings of Guilt, Fear, and Shame. These three I like to call, "the toxic trinity" The "tt's" only goal is to destroy us. They are death dealers, and will go to any means, any extremes to make sure we have our own personal hell, here on earth. They are the 'briers' of the gospel. They choke the new life that has been given to us, through God's love for us. Their job is to get us to loose ourselves chasing power, property, and prestige. We go chasing that which will make us look good on the outside. Why? Because we do not believe our essential inner likeableness, goodness, and lovableness. We are in desperate need to become more accepting of what is means to be human, to be limited. We are, and never will be, in this life, perfect. The toxic trinity wants us to believe the lie that perfection is there, that it is possible, if we would only somehow make a greater effort.

That leads to tremendous insanity. This insanity is so easy for us to observe. It is present, and can be observed in so many individuals, families, and as a consequence in family based institutions. The games that go with "control, comparisons, and competition" leave so many victims in their wake. Every addiction,and compulsion can be traced to the power given to the 'tt" in our lives. We all have to get to that point where we have nothing of ourselves to meet the challenge of the 'tt". There is one who has all the power. We must bring our powerlessness to the All Merciful, Lenient One and there spell out what it is we of ourselves cannot do. The prayer of desperation, crying out from the depths of our nothingness, is always. That is the prayer that comers from the gut. It is our deepest truth. In this prayer there is no sugar coating. There is no effort to look good, or sound good. Here we meet who we really are, and as we meet who we really are, lo and behold there meeting us is The God of Jesus Christ. The briars, brambles, weeds, thorns, and thistles slowly are moved away, and the good earth, which has ever and always been there is revealed. That is the next blog.

Rocks in the River of Grace....

As you read last week, life has a way of hardening us. There are so many and varied ways that demands of us, to survive, that we stuff our feelings and emotions. In the family of the active alcoholic, you don’t think for yourself, you do not express your honest feelings, and you do not speak your truth, or reveal in any way the family secret. This is true of ALL dysfunctional families, and organizations. As long as we are able to either deny, or repress our true feelings there is a very sick peace. It is peace at any price, and such "peace" eventually will lead to innumerable "wars" leaving painful and destructive wounds. Wounds that must be attended to, or else the dysfunction is passed on from generation to generation. Take a real honest look at the families you know and see how the wounds of past generation is having a devastating effect on the current generations. This will, unfortunately, continue until some generation says, "Enough" and speaks the truth. The truth WILL set the person free, but it will also tee a lot of people off. That is why there must be truth speakers in each family. They are not the most popular member, but they are the most free, and above all, the healthiest. This freedom, like all freedom comes at a price. Sometimes at a great price. The one who tells the truth may themselves be attacked, wounded, and killed. Not always a physical killing, but much worse, the spiritual and psychological assassination. The "secret" must be guarded at any cost, and so the hardening will continue. The good news that The Word is intended to bring cannot be believed, or received. It is amazing the number of individuals who are so condition in the "lie", they find it so difficult to come to believe and accept the truth. They will never know or experience God's dream, The Asling, which He so desperately wishes to impart. The call to be, The Beloved, goes unheard. The beloved is loved without "condition, restriction or reservation". We do NOT, nor can we ever earn, deserve, or qualify for it.

We must always keep before that saying, "Love will find a way". The All Powerful One's Love will find a way. The way He will reach us will not, and I repeat not the way we expect Him to reach us, but reach us He will. God has His own rules, His way of doing things, and they are way beyond what we can understand. All we can do is gaze in wonder, and be gently lead to a desire to have what seems to be impossible. With God all things are possible, that is with the God, The Prophet Jesus, came to teach us about. This is not true of the false gods of human beings creation. We will, left to our own devises create a god made in the image and likeness of ourselves. The ultimate idolatry!!!!!!!!!

We all have the innate need and desire for love. Yet being who we are as wounded human beings we find ourselves as the rocky ground of the parable. When we have not experienced a healthy love , they will be no depth to us. Everything is on the surface. How difficult it is to believe the good news, and how easily we embrace the negative. If you are like me, you will hear a number of good or kind remarks, they there will be one negative comment, which one will get the most attention? Which one will have a more lasting effect? "What tangled webs we weave……" All of us , as human beings will encounter the following rocks on the journey, " guilt, anger, resentment, boredom, anxiety, greed and envy". (Also called The Garbage of Life.) These come in all sizes. From little pebbles, to seemingly immoveable boulders. These we encounter, but we are not on our own. "Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more." Grace IS ever and always being poured out upon us. This is happening to us, whether we know it or feel. It is those moments when we feel the most abandoned, the most unloved, the most lost, Grace, the love of God is most operative in our lives. The contradiction is when we feel most distant from God, and His loving presence, it is then and there we are closest to our God. The living and true God we are always discovering, anew. MYSTERY !!!!!!

I just love to hike or walk by a river, or stream. When you look at something long enough something beyond what one see initially slowly is revealed. Mountain streams are for the most part, rocky. You see the water cascading down. As it flows you can see it dodging between the rocks, as it winds its way down hill. Where the flow is strong, the water will cover the rocks, and keep on going. What were just dull rocks, now exposed to the constant flow of water, are revealed now as polished and gleaming. There is a beauty, which would not be there if the water had not flowed. It appears to me something like happens to you and I. We, as spiritual being having a human experience, will encounter small pebbles, large rocks, and seemingly immovable boulders. We are always caught up in the river of Grace. God's grace, like the flowing waters of rivers, and streams, is always slowly transfiguring, and transforming us. The river one sees, and the power one observes, is a great example of what is always happening to us, and within us. The rocks reveal their beauty on the outside, for all to see. Your transformative beauty will be an inner peace, joy, and love. You will, for the most part , have the joy, not the happiness, that no matter what the obstacle, there is a gift waiting to be bestowed upon you. A gift not for yourself, but for the person that will be placed in your life. The garbage does not remain garbage, it is transformed into treasured gifts, by The Great Recycler in the sky. "Behold I make all things new."

All we have to do is express the desire to have the pebbles, rocks, and boulders of our lives be exposed to the everlasting flow of Grace. Then time, that is Graced, will bring more delight than the most captivating Rocky Mountain river or stream. So, "let the river flow, let the river flow". Let us then allow ourselves to be immersed in, and refreshed by an endless stream of a love we will never understand or comprehend, in this life. It is not for us to analyze, it is for us to enjoy. Come then, approach with confidence, not fear, the river of Divine Merciful love immerse yourself in it's refreshing water. Drink fully from this stream. This river runs free, and is free to all who choose to drink from it, then you will "taste and see the goodness of God".

Breaking Ground....

Last week, I shared what was one of present days author's understanding on how we approach life, and all of its realities. We are either pre-occupied, closed, stuck or ready. Well this week a very well know Teacher gives us His understanding of how we are, as the gift of life, is offered to us. Jesus, at His teaching best, describes the four dispositions we are going to have as The Good News is proclaimed, presented, offered to us.

In the parable of The Sower, the Prophet Jesus, wants to get across the human conditions THE Word, The Message of Life, meets. These are universal realities. As you have heard me say we are each and every person, place and event in the Gospel. So, we need never be upset when we identify with any of the places, and people Jesus presents to us. No matter what the place our God is calling out to us. Calling to remind us we are loved as WE ARE. "Do not be afraid I am with You. Our God is always saying to us. Wherever you are, there I AM.” There is NOTHING that can get in the way of God’s covenant love for us. Nothing that we can do, or anybody else can do to us, can separate us from The Mysterious love, of Our Beloved. Been reflecting on you belovedness lately? Henri Nouwen recommends we claim our belovedness again and again. There is so much in life that will lead us to not only question, but sad to say, deny who we are in the unconditioned, unlimited love of our God. We will have an IDOL for a god, not The Living God Jesus came to reveal to all human beings, through His mission and His ministry. That message is still being offered to all, in every moment.
For those of us who do not claim our belovedness we will find our reality in the first three situations, and persons described in the parable.

Ok, let’s start with the seed that fell on the path. The path was the place where people walked. We all have travelled paths left by others. The paths, the trails, left on South Mountain, by those who have gone before, are hard and unyielding. You can see everything that has been dropped. Ever notice the fields in farm country after the snow has melted how hard and unyielding the ground is. The farmer know that soil must be busted open before seed can be sewn.

Life has the ability to harden us. There is the story Fr. Rohr tells it is about the walleyed pike. The fish was placed in a glass tank. As it swam around little fish we dropped into the tank. they were duly swallowed up. This went on for a time. Then there was a glass plate placed into the tank. The little fish were placed behind the glass. the pike proceeded to attack the fish, and bumped it's snout against the glass. Eventually the fish gave up. The glass partition was then removed. The little fish swam around, and around the pike. He starved to death. Very sad is it not? Yet that is what plays out time and time again in so many lives. In my years in parish work I have met men and women who were unable to believe that they were loved. After listening to their life's story it came as no surprise to me the great challenge they were facing. What had happened, and was happening challenges the possible existence of a loving and just God.

The ground must be broken open for there to be a harvest. We who have become hardened, must fins away to break the hard shell we have created for self-protection. The hard shell is created, for survival. Is there a way out? Is there a way to leave behind existing, and claim life? Of course there is. It is not easy, I am sorry to say. It is possible. It is a process. It takes time, and with Grace, and through God's INFINITE love it has happened, and is happening for millions of our fellow human beings. The shell was cracked, the mask slowly removed, and a new way of living was revealed. As it was, so it is, and ever shall be.
Beginning to own our feelings is the first preparatory step. As I write this i am smiling. Here there is an Irishman writing about feelings. We would not know a feeling if it hit us between the eyes. In the Irish culture, many of you have been infected with this Irish flaw, you are wined and dined to prevent a real truthful feeling from being expressed. Booze and food, YES, but please no feeling talk. That is how the family secrets are never expressed to the detriment of generations. I had to learn the way to my truth was to see within that dangerous word feel lay the answer. 'F" is feel, "E" is experience, "E" is express, and the "L" is to let go. I have also learned the way to a deepening health is, feel, deal, reveal, and heal. Whatever is not expressed cannot be healed. Whatever is not transformed is transferred.(Rohr) We again are faced with this decision, is it life or is it death? The choice is ours every moment will i be a life giver, or a death dealer? Do I keep the words of Jesus ever before me, ' My wish for you is that you will have life, and have it abundantly " The harvest will be abundant. like all harvests they take time. Nature cannot be rushed or hurried. The working’s of the Spirit cannot be hurried as well. My mother taught me this so many years ago, “The mills of God grind very slowly, but they do grind so very true". The words of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, “Be not afraid I am with you........until the end of time".

Willingness......????

This is a real tough time to live in Arizona. It is hot, muggy and energy draining. What must be the struggle of those who have to spend their working day outdoors? They must have a tremendous sense of dedication and commitment to brave the burning heat and the energy sapping humidity. Yet they have that willingness to get up and get going, to meet the challenge of each new day. We see our fellow human beings trimming trees, working construction, handling even hotter tar to pave streets and roads, so we can travel with delight and comfort. When we see and enjoy wonderful buildings, trimmed lawns and gardens, well paved streets and highways, do we ever reflect on the price that has been paid by others so we have comfort and delight? Their willingness to do the most difficult work really adds so much pleasure, joy, and happiness.

Willingness is an essential element for us as well as we face the challenge of our spiritual journey, which is our every day life's experience. We must ask for the willingness to be able to see with ever new lenses, and not be afraid to be led on a path we have not planned on. "We journey to Him we do not know, by a path we do not know." That is what St. John of The Cross teaches us. Our egos want certainty. We are most comfortable worshiping at the altar of the idol.......CERTAINTY. We have made such an idol of certainty, God help those who have the cheek to challenge that certainty. That is why The Prophet Jesus ran into so much trouble. That is why He was killed. All who are prophets of His message have met the same fate. Maybe not physical death but today’s equivalent. Some of the “killing” is more deadly, and more difficult to endure than physical death. That is over in a second. Today’s "killing" can last a long, long time. As in the time of Jesus, this is done by well minded people, who think they have the whole truth, and are not prepared to listen ad see anew. We have to have that willingness to not only listen to the words of Jesus Christ, we have to actually hear. We have to listen, take the message deep within and then say, "YES", to what is being asked of us. This is scary, for it leads us into uncertainty. Is it any wonder then that our original "YES" is always in the process of becoming a deeper "YES". Some of us will say yes, then we go and live the life of "NO ". Then the Good Shepherd reaches in that lonely, painful, place of our no. We are then, by grace, able to say a deeper 'YES". This will lead to commitment. So our journey is, according to Fr. Rohr, YES, NO, yes, then commitment.

Those that Jesus spoke to were not the most receptive of people. He was The Light that came into to the world, but was not received as such. He was The Wisdom of God, teaching and not being listened to or understood. He applied the following words to His listeners, and through them these word are addressed to you and I. These contain a great challenge and warning for you and I today. “As it was so it is, and ever shall be." Listen as you will, you shall not understand, look intently as you will, you shall not see. Sluggish indeed are these peoples hearts. They have scarcely heard with their years, they have firmly closed their eyes; otherwise they may see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and turn back to me, and I should heal them. WE can, however take heart in the following words of encouragement, "But blessed are your eyes because they see and blessed are your ears because they hear”. That is the daily struggle, at least for me. I wrote down the following, from a book I was reading. Does it not describe us very well, as we approach every liturgy, every person, every action, of our journey as spiritual beings having an oh so human experience.

We, I, approach all of our daily reality, either (a) Preoccupied , (b) Closed, (c) Stuck, or (d) Ready. How we see, in the way we are present to life, will depend whether we are going to live life, and live it to the fullest, God's dream-His aisling, or just exist. The latter will lead us to discover here on earth our own private hell and open others to the same reality

Discover.....Burden Light...

We are now in the liturgical time, we call 'Ordinary Time". Realistically speaking, there in no ordinary time. Each and every moment is extra-ordinary.
Why? Because in each and every moment is both hidden and revealed, the Sacred, The mystery we are always seeking and searching for. That which we seek is hidden within the reality I am seeing, and experiencing. There is no way of meeting the God we so desperately seek, and who desperately seeks us than in the sacred place we call the sacrament of the present moment.

There is no, "ordinary" reality. If it really real, is sacred. It is holy.
We become whole, holy, by becoming more and more aware of where we are, and WHO it is that is seeking to encounter us , where we are. Not where we would like to be, not where are supposed to be, but where we are at RIGHT NOW. We may have, and do have difficulty with where we are at, and what is happening, our gracious God does not. That is why we have a great opening prayer for this time we call, Ordinary. We will pray, or have prayed;

"Let us pray, to be faithful to the light we have received, and to the name we bear. Father, let the light of your truth guide us to your kingdom through a world filled with lights contrary to your own. Christian is the name and the gospel we glory in. May YOUR love make us what you have called us to be."

"May your love make us what you have called us to be." It is both necessary, and essential, we keep before us that it is always grace, God's love, that creates in us who our God wants us to be. It is God's light that directs us on the path He invites us to walk. It is God sharing His life with us, that allows us to have life, and have it to the fullest. The life, light, and love of God is always being communicated to us there is never an, "outage" I This what we celebrate in each and every Liturgical celebration !!!! ) There was an outage this week, and 80,000 people were without power.

People suffer when the is a power failure. Thank God with our God there NEVER is a power failure. We, at times, may think this is so. That is due to our inability to see, as God sees, and to know as God nows. There are times we feel so very much alone, and uncared for, but that is not our deepest reality. We are unaware of that which is our deepest reality, in being the beloved, daughter/son.Our darkness is not darkness to God. It is in those dark moments our lenses are tweaked resulting in a new way of seeing. For God this is the opportunity to mold us, to form us in a deeper reality of His Son Jesus Christ. This reality is our destiny, or vocation. For this we were born, for this we were created. For this and no other reason.

There will be, and always will be, lights directing us to places the still unredeemed part of us wants to go to, and dwell within. This is what Paul calls "flesh" We will never be able to escape this pull, this attraction. There will always be a battle. The battle takes place in our souls each and every moment life gives us to live. The right way is not always the easy way, nor is the easy way the right way. How often I have found that to be true. As matter of fact that is a truth I still have to learn. It is so easy to get angry and say, "I am tired of having to constantly find out my best thinking will always come up short. There is always something more to everything".

The road that Jesus trod was a tough one. As it was for Him so it is for us. He had His Father with Him, for most of the time, Calvary was the exception. We in following Him will NEVER be on our own. Why, because we are locked into the same yoke that He carried, and now carries in us and with us. Yes we share the yoke of the human journey with Him who became human for this purpose. When two animals share a yoke, they have to pull together, to get the work done. The driver is there to make sure one does not the other do all the pulling.

We share the yoke with the one who entered into the fullness of our humanity, so when we can no longer honestly do our part, He will assume our share of the burden. This burden then is His until we are rested and refreshed. How will this happen? In the Gospel we have this invitation; "Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome. and I will give you rest. (Another translation...I will refresh you) We will not be fixed, even though this is what we want. We will be refreshed by resting in Him.

Then we can return and again assume the yoke of Him who refreshed us. He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. No wonder we call Him, Savior God. May you persevere in the struggle until you find your place of rest and refreshment. Not in the way we want,but in the way our Gracious Father meets our every need. In this way they are not , "burdens heavy", they are "burdens light". Now to go along with "beer light", "butter light", "cheese light', "juice light" etc., now we have " BURDEN LIGHT" Wow, Jesus was so ahead of His time.

Our Family of Origin...Gift Givers!

As I read ,I sometimes like to write out a phrase that hits me as something new, or I have not seen life through that particular lens. I see a need to reflect on this truth some more. This usually starts a new way of thinking, leading to a new way of seeing. This in turn, brings about change. Some changes I fight. At my age, change is not something one easily embraces. There are enough changes I have no control of. This getting old sure leads to a great deal of change. Accepting and becoming reconciled with them is hard work. So when other sources of change surprise me I am not usually accepting of them. I know I do not like all of what is presented to me by life. It is very consoling to know I do not have to LIKE all this, I do however have to grow in ACCEPTANCE, and RECONCILIATION with this on going process. This process leads to a deepening understanding of the place that grace, in other words ,The Love of God, pays in bringing about an ever-deepening sense of unity, and wholeness. We are mystery. Why? We, after all, are created in the imagine and likeness of God. As God is THE MYSTERY, we, too, are mystery. God is Mystery with a capital "M". We are mystery with a small "m".
" After each journey, we take, into mystery we are enlightened, enlivened, refreshed,and renewed. There is a newness to life". That is what I wrote some time ago when reading a book. The title of the book, I do not remember. These word have sure left a mark, and are a great lens through which we can look back over the last three weeks. We have met a God who has moved from being a God who is for His people, Old Testament. In the New Testament, He is a God who is with His people, Emmanuel. Now, because of Pentecost, He is a God who dwells within us, the people of the New Covenant. We are led to the understanding of the great mysterious life that is within us and whose Presence we are consecrated to be.
Do we claim this weekend's celebration of, Corpus Christi, both as a communal and a personal celebration of who we are and who we have been called to be? The feast of The Body of Christ is a celebration of who it is we are, and who, by grace we are called to be both as individuals, and as a community of faith. Last week spoke to us of The Family of God, who is our family of origin. To know about ourselves we have to take a real close look at who it is, and where it is, we have come from. Our Family Of Origin is eternal. So we too are eternal. That is both good news, and bad news. As we have the eternal within the there is nothing, without, that will bring us any lasting peace, joy and love. We will ALWAYS be restless. The good news is,The Family of Origin, who live in a community of eternal love, is ever and always drawing us into an ever deepening relationship with them. Our Family of Origin is always communicating in love, so that where real, healthy, authentic love is there is The Family dwelling within. In Them we are only to really, live and move and have our being. They in turn depend on us to live and move and be a reality in their creation. The Creator is so humble, and vulnerable, He, makes Himself subject to our free will. The Family reveals to us their life sharing love. The Father's creative love, The Son's redeeming love, and The Holy Spirit whose love brings everything into a wholeness, a holiness. (The work of sanctification). As they spend themselves in eternal, everlasting love, so we are called to imitate their example. We imitate them by doing what They have modeled for us who it is we are to be, and what we are to do. Their continuous , strengthening presence is GUARANTEED, so we can be who we are called to be, and do what we are called to do. All we have to do is say, "YES".

That yes is why we come to mass and receive The Eucharist. In the reception of The Body of Christ we renew our "Yes" to the call, We are called to be HE, whom have received. We also recognize our human frailty. Accepting what St.Paul said, as our truth as well: "Of ourselves we can do nothing, but we can do all things in Him that strengthens me" I guess we can also say: "we can do all things in THEM that strengthens us." What a Family of Origin we have. A family who despite anything we do will never desert us. Will never abandon us. We are not always faithful to our "Yes", but the gracious and merciful Family is always faithful to It's YES to us. Nothing can change that. That is what it means to be, "members of the new covenant of grace" Pretty one sided, do you not think? Yet our Family dwells happily within us. Celebrating, not our love, but Their love. We are always invited to join them in, celebration. We can say 'Yes", which is the response of love to love, grace. We have however been given the freedom to answer, "no". Each and every moment demands of us a "YES" or a ,"NO". What great power and freedom is our Family's legacy. In this way we are going to be life givers or death dealers. First of all to ourselves, and as a consequence to those who will share our journey.

The Gift of Triune Love....

Birthdays are times of gift giving. We, as the church, just had a birthday. That is contained in a fuller understanding of The Feast of Pentecost. Did you have a conscious celebration of this ever new event in your life, and in the continuing life of The Body of Christ ? When we do not have a conscious celebration of a significant event then we are not drawn into it's deeper meaning. When that is our modus operandi we will not see our lives through the lenses of awe, and wonder. We will never see or come to appreciate the life that is both hidden and revealed in the mystery we call daily living. We will then complain how dull and boring life is. There will nothing to trigger the awe and wonder that is essential to living life and living it to the fullest, which is our Father-God's dream for you and I. This is a dream we have to claim again, again, and again.

Religious celebrations allows us to celebrate the deepest reality within us. The purpose of religious practice is not to give us religion, rather it is intended to help us celebrate that which is already present. You do not put religion into a person, it is our challenge to provide the opportunity which allows the person to come to an awareness of what our Gracious God has already placed within each and every person. Regardless of how we see, or what we see in an individual, that is the reality hidden deep within all human beings. This is the in depth reality is hidden within human being. We have, at this time of year, three celebrations which provides us with an ever new awareness of this reality.

Pentecost Sunday is the first of three celebrations that reveals to us our great calling, our deep mysterious reality. The celebration of Pentecost is followed by two celebrations of equal mystery and majesty. They are The Feast of The Blessed Trinity and The Feast of Corpus Christi. In the celebration of Pentecost we celebrated The Spirit that has descended, has come to bring the new Spirit leading to a new way of living for a community that was discouraged, and doubtful. They needed a new unique spirit to live the new life that was now theirs. This Spirit was to be the living, vitalizing presence of Him who loved His own, and loved them to the end. He left but promised not to abandon them or leave them orphans. That promise is directed toward you and I as we are their successors and the inheritors of that same promise. “As it was, so it is, and ever shall be”. This Spirit will lead us to all truth, as has been promised. We will not ALWAYS like or embrace the Truth. Real Truth will always challenge us, to reach beyond what is easy, and comfortable. I personally do not like this. Then I am told I do not have to LIKE it. I will however be led, in time, to the wonderful promised land of acceptance.

In the celebration of The Holy Trinity we are drawn into an ever deepening understanding who is The Family that has chosen our bodies, to be their dwelling place. The Family of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have out of their Triune love for each one of us, have chosen us to live within, "the prisoner of our finiteness". We have within us here on earth, here in our earthly existence, what is present in the life of Heaven. We are temples of the living God. A God who is in reality, a family, living in loving unity. They live within us, so we can make our dwelling with them, as they dwell within us. In that way we can have here on earth a taste of the life of Heaven. Pretty neat ????? There is this Celtic prayer that has been around for many, many centuries:
'I arise to-day
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of
the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
of the Creator of Creation.
Can this, in time, and with grace, bring about the change necessary so we will have Guests to visit, rather than PRISONERS to be feared??

The People ARE The Church...

"The people are the church." Eugene Kennedy

Happy Pentecost. Today is the birthday of YOUR church!

Ascension...It Is Every Day!!!!

It was only after having read Fr. Rolheiser's book, “The Holy Longing" that I was able to have a more real practical understanding of The Feast of The Ascension. He points that the Ascension is another stop along the road to a fuller understanding of what the Paschal Mystery really means for you and I. I just love the way he describes the three days of The Tridium and beyond. He says .."the Paschal cycle might be diagrammed as follows;
I 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 for grieving the old"
4. Pentecost..............." the reception of new spirit for the new life that one is already living"
Put into a more colloquial language and stated as a personal, paschal challenge for each of us, one might recast the diagram this way:
1... "Name your deaths"
2.....”Claim your births"
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 blessings"
5......"Accept the spirit of the life you are in fact living.'

This cycle in NOT something that we must undergo just once, at moment of our deaths, when we lose our earthly lives as we know them. It is rather something we must undergo daily, in every aspect of our lives. ...The paschal mystery is the secret to life. Ultimately our happiness depends upon properly undergoing it. ...Our happiness, peace, and maturity depend upon appropriating properly this mystery in our lives. Unless we die in infancy, we will have many deaths in our lives and within each of these we must receive new life and new spirit."

What an awe-full, wonder-full concept those words are. They are so full of hope. There are also words of warning, our happiness depends on us embracing the reality of The Paschal Mystery, in the reality of our daily living. On this feast of The Ascension what are the things of yesterday, or of all the yesterdays, that we need to let go of. The risen Christ took with Him the wounds of His crucifixion. What are the wounds we are carrying that need to be united with the wounds of Christ ,and allowed to ascend into Heaven. WE must not hang on to what has been. We must take the time to grieve. This is not what we do very well grieve. We want it over and done with. We know now grieving is a PROCESS, and it does not only demand days and weeks, but months and years. Words are poor vehicles to describe the pain and sorrow I have seen in people’s lives because the process was not embraced. There is a horrible price to be paid, and I am sad to say, many have paid that price. It was not necessary, but it has happened and will happen to all who deny the this process.

Again the choice between life and death is placed before us. Fullness of life is guaranteed, to us, as we embrace the reality of the mystery, that our many, many deaths are our present day participation in the dying and rising of Christ. We have died, and are dying with Christ will rise with Him. We will experience a new way of seeing, new way of living. Why? We have allowed ourselves to name the deaths, and claim the births. Our wounds are now in the presence of Our God, in the person of His beloved son. In the naming of the death, the embracing of the pain of emptiness we are creating the space for the new spirit which is on the way. More about that next week.

"Every time there are losses there are choices to be made. You choose ti live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment or you choose to let theses losses to be the passage to something new, something wider and deeper." (Henri Nouwen )

The Loving Eye...Frees

As you know, or at least have guessed, I am Irish. We, as a people, have had a great struggle to achieve real freedom. We spent four hundred years in bondage. The struggle was, therefore, a long and arduous one. It came at a great price. Freedom, we are told today, is not free. It never was, and never will be, that reality we must always keep ever before us. As the result of our struggle, us Irish, have always been on the side of those who are enmeshed in their own struggle for freedom. Sometime check the number of Irish who fought in Washington's army? The Irish have great passion for what is right and just. Patience, on the other hand, is not what we are known for. We who have known enslavement, bondage and every kind of injustice, when we see people confined in any form of "prison”, we do not keep very quiet. There is something inside that forces us to speak out. We must speak and name the source enslavement. In the spiritual life that which enslaves us is guilt, fear, and shame. These are what I like to call "the toxic trinity". We will never be spiritually free until these forces are faced head on in our lives.

This takes tremendous courage. A courage that is provided, free of charge, by our gracious, ever-kind, and merciful God. All we have to do is desire to be free, and the process has begun. The ride to real spiritual freedom is one scary wild ride. We have been called, by our Baptism, to that freedom. We have to ask the hard question, “Do I really want to be free?". Do I want the freedom that requires of me that I no longer live in the expectations of others? I risk telling the unvarnished truth, naming the lie. Speaking out loud what has ever and always been the family secret. We are no longer going to carry the burden of that secret. We have to realize our unhappiness, our life lived in the prison of addiction and compulsion, is actually our struggle with the family secret. Real spiritual comes when we name the family secret and expose it to the transforming power of Love.

This love, like all healthy love, is creative, not destructive. This Power of Love unifies, not divides. This love transfigures, and transforms. This Power of Love will ever so slowly, and ever so gently bring us to spiritual health, wholeness, and holiness. Yes, wholeness and holiness ARE the same. They are interchangeable words, just as God and Healthy love are. We have to express our desire for that love of all loves. We can paraphrase the words of Robbie Burns, "Would that God the gift to see me as God Himself sees me". We are thereby asking that the lenses of God become our lenses. Are we willing to let go of the old way of seeing, so we can be lead into a new way of living? It is scary to let go of the familiar. A great number of people I have met know in their hearts of hearts the old way must be surrendered. The old behaviors cannot continue, do they let go? I am sad to say the prisons of “the toxic trinity" are chosen, rather than risk real freedom. Bondage they can handle freedom, no. They will continue to analyze, criticize and brutalize themselves and as a consequence others. This is their comfort zone. Here is where they will stay rather open themselves to a new way acting. A new way of acting is THE only way we can reach a new way of thinking. When we do not risk the new way of acting we are then frozen. We are drying up, and will eventually crumble. These words of Rousseau I like, "Man was born free, and everywhere I look I see him chained".

We all have to face the decision to choose life over death. Here is what I promised to give you, so you at your ease can reflect on what it says, and so be lead to a place where you can rest, and be the beloved you are called to be. The "resentful eye" has got to go. Why? John O’Donoghue has written, "To the resentful eye, everything is begrudged”. People who have allowed the canker of resentment into their vision can never enjoy who they are or what they have. They are always looking outward towards 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 poverty and forgets its own inner harvest. As regards "The Loving Eye " he writes "To the loving eye, everything is real”. This art of love is neither sentimental nor naive. Such love is the greatest criterion of truth, celebration, and reality. Kathleen Raine, a Scottish poet, says that unless you a think in the light of love, you do not see it at all. Love is the light in which we see light. Love is the light in which we see each thing in its true origin, nature, and destiny. If we could look at the world in a loving way, then the world would rise up before us full of invitation, possibility, and depth.

The loving can even coax pain, hurt, and violence towards transfiguration and renewal. The loving eye is bright because it is autonomous and free. It looks lovingly on anything. The loving vision does not become entangled in the agenda of power, seduction, opposition and complicity. Such vision is creative and subversive. It rises above the pathetic arithmetic of blame and judgment and engages experience at the level of its origin, structure, and destiny. The loving eye see through and beyond image and effects the deepest change. Vision is central to your presence and creativity. To recognize HOW you see things can bring you self-knowledge and enable you to glimpse the wonderful treasures you life secretly holds.

Now, a Second Casserole!

New ideas, thoughts come as I hike. These thoughts lead to new ideas. New ideas lead to new material for new homilies. (I can hear the chorus, “It is about time”.) Since I do not write out what I am going to say, what is said is very fluid, to say the least. The heading in the Sacramentary for these Sundays reads The .......... sunday of Easter. Then it appeared to me that there was something missing. What was missing was the word, "celebration”. We spend over 40 days in preparation. Preparation to once again celebrate, The great Mystery of our faith. This preparation is to provide us with new lenses so we can see in a new and more vibrant way, that which is our daily reality. We spend three days in the celebration, The Easter Tridium.

We now we are spending 50 days to see where our lives are centered within what we celebrate. With each such celebration the is new meaning given to the life we so many times call ordinary. We only have ordinary lives when we do not take the time to stop and reverence the Mystery dwelling within each and every, person, place, and action. These 50 days are saying to you and I, “stop and allow The Holy, The Sacred, The mystery to bubble up from within your life”, leading us to a depth of meaning which is way beyond what we ever could imagine, on our own. “This is what the Lord has done”, is doing and ever shall do, until the fullness of The Kingdom is revealed in and to this expectant world of ours.

As I mentioned last week, when I introduced the idea, that these weeks were a spiritual casserole. A casserole from which Mother church doles out to us, people places, events, and actions, intended for our nourishment. Intended for our encouragement. Once we have been nourished and encouraged it is OUR SACRED duty, OUR Sacred obligation to become bearers of this good news. We are to be the place of encouragement and hope for those who our God will certainly send our way. Watch for the contemporary suffering Christ, who will appear under many, many, different and unusual disguises. We have to have desire The Heart of God to be able to see beyond fear, hatred, prejudice, indifference, to the presence of His suffering Son ever before.

I was at the intersection at 44st. & Ray when the thought came, or should I not say, the question came what about our own personal casserole? How is this a reality in the life I am presently living? Well, my life is a casserole. In it, are many different ingredients. Some I have put in place, other ingredients are placed, or sometimes forced into the mix. In the kitchen casserole, that which holds all the ingredients together, is the canned soup. In the spiritual casserole that which holds it all together is the power of The Holy Spirit. There are so many thing in our life's casserole we wish were not present. We cannot deny them. They are part of our reality. To deny is to place ourselves, and as a consequence others, in real danger. Acceptance of our reality, in struggled prayer, allows the process of integration and reconciliation to happen. This Power at work is the Power of Love. This love has so often been described as fire. Well the casserole on the stove needs fire, heat to cook and so the ingredients are integrated, they are blended. The Fire, that is God's love, brings about integration, transformation, leading to reconciliation and freedom.

This is not a fantasy of mine. Here is what deChardin has written, “Love is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves". Wow! Isn’t that something to ponder, and ponder. So, then the power of LOVE is ever and always at work. It is at times like this we are given the opportunity to stop and reflect on the process at work within the casserole we call, everyday living. I will leave you with my second favorite saying of the above author, “Someday, after we have harnessed the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then the world will have discovered, for the second time fire".

Let us all then conspire together to bring this about. I have the belief, that with all of us uniting in this wonder-full endeavor it will happen. Our belief united with the Aisling, the dream of God, nothing can get in the way. Uniting the strength, the power of the two casseroles within each of us will be the source of that which otherwise would be impossible. With God, all things are possible. Let us give His love, His plan a chance. The opposite has not worked, has it?

A Spiritual....Casserole

"I set before you life and death--therefore choose life", Deuteronomy 30:20. These words of scripture are words we must ever keep before us in order to enjoy the dream, our gracious God has for each one of us.

This is not a sometime dream. A dream that is in place, not just when we are good and obedient, but all the time. This dream, aisling in Irish, is always and ever in place for you and I. God, we are able to say, is the great dreamer, The Eternal Optimist. His dream for us is that, we choose to live. He has sent His Beloved Son down here to model for us just how to do it. Jesus, The Christ, entered into the fullness of what it means to be human, so as we enter the process becoming human, we will begin The Great Encounter. We will not encounter what we expect, but what is unexpected, and sometimes in a very, very upsetting way. It is, however, only, and I repeat only, upsetting to our false-self, our as yet unredeemed ego. It actually allows the true self, the one that our God both knows and has loved, from all of eternity. His infinite loved is the source, and the root cause of its existence.
"In the womb, before the day star I have begotten you."

That is why we are eternal in our origin, and our destiny. When was the last time you have reflected on that? What a great mystery each one of us is. It is in our isness, that we are able to connect with that great mystery. To more we become authentic human beings, and not just exist as human doers will that mystery be slowly revealed to us. It is in our being, NOT our doing, that we allow this great revelation to happen. Each year, we are provided with a new, and never before experienced opportunity. We are drawn by grace to experience ever anew this wonder-full, awe-full mystery. Each moment of every day of every year we are provided with a new opportunity to reflect on this Mystery. Our God wishes us to see how we are living a life that His
Son has already lived. His wish is that we accept and embrace this mysterious reality, as a reality that is now living within us. Really?

The Mystery is called The Paschal Mystery, or it is also called The Easter mystery. It is THE mystery of our faith. We proclaim this mystery in each Mass we co offer, with the priest, as we celebrate our common priesthood. As we are baptized into the Paschal Mystery, so are we baptized into the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Each and every baptized person is consecrated with the same chrism that a priest in anointed with, on the occasion of his ordination. We have been chosen to participate in the ongoing revelation and celebration of The Mystery. Each mass and our daily lives God uses to teach us, and through us, others; that "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again". This is a truth we have to be brought to accept. We have to be brought to the truth that, it was through His cross AND resurrection Christ set us free. We will be further led to the realization that is what is happening to each one of us right now.

True freedom comes as we embrace the dying and the rising hidden and revealed in the living out of every moment, of every day. There is NO moment that Christ is not suffering death within us. There is no moment that new resurrected life is not breaking through. As we are drawn ever deeper in to the celebration, our eyes are slowly opened. We will see ourselves and our lives centered in that Easter/Paschal mystery. We will be led to see we are never alone. We never suffer alone. We now believe that our lives are really hidden, with Christ, in the caring, persistent, infinite love of God. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the tomb of death is the very same Power that will bring to us life, liberty, and freedom. I see all the events of Holy week, Easter Sunday and the following 50 days as a great spiritual casserole. A mother, a cook, places so many different ingredients into a casserole. Then some soup, my favorite is mushroom, is poured in to make the whole mess a nourishing meal. It does taste good, most of the time. Well we are to do the same thing. We see our daily living as a giant casserole. We see all the people, events, and places of the Paschal Mystery within us. We are called to love and accept all of them. Without this acceptance of all, we will not be whole. We will never be a holy person. Wholeness does not come from holy feelings, on the contrary. The process of integration, and transformation is anything but pleasant. It is right up there with a root canal, and giving birth. The Holy Spirit will, and I repeat, will provide all that we need to allow this to happen. The dream of God, the aisling, will not be denied. Frustrated, unfortunately, yes. We all have people, places, and events we would much prefer not to have in our lives. It is up to us to ask for the gift of acceptance. Through this gift we are able to open ourselves to the mystery of grace, the mystery of God's love. Slowly, but surely, the following will happen, this is from John O Donoghue; “When love awakens in your life, in the night of the heart, it is like the dawn breaking within you. Where before, there was anonymity, now there is intimacy; where before there was fear, now there is courage; where before in your life there was awkwardness, now there is a rhythm of grace and gracefulness; where before you used to be jagged, now you are elegant and in rhythm with yourself. When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebirth, a new beginning”. These words truly sums up God's dream. Is it not a perfect description on the experience of the totality of the Paschal/Easter mystery. In the kitchen the casserole is made, in the realm of the spirit it happens. It cannot be rushed. Again patient endurance is our greatest friend, and our ego's worst enemy.

Wounds Are To Become....Sacred

I guess by now you know or can guess, I like to read. I was blessed with this gift at very early age. My mother's love was the romance novel. My dad devoured the daily paper. As he was reading the paper he was not aware of anything else. My mother was unable to penetrate that concentration, much to her annoyance, from time to time. I began my reading adventure with a picture book only named "The Beano". I then graduated to “Adventure" and I have not looked back. There were no pictures in that magazine, only all written words. I was hooked, and have been ever sense. Life has been, for me a real great adventure. It was easy then to connect with the statement I read recently, "Our journey in Faith IS also, an adventure”. We can say then, that our faith journey is that which lies above, beneath, beyond, and permeates every step we take on this great adventure we call life. I have read of so many heroes as they made their way through success and failures. The hero was always wounded. The wounding was a very important, if not essential event in the development of the hero. You are the hero of your own story. As it happened to the heroes of old so it will be for us. In that wounding we are transformed, not for our benefit but for those who will be placed in our lives. So, it is with the hero we have come to know, Jesus Christ.

We all know how harshly He was treated. He was beaten, bruised, broken and betrayed, but unlike all the other great heroes, He was killed. Just like all the other heroes when all seemed lost, He returns to His own. When does He return? He returns the moment of their deepest need. When all seemed lost The Historical Jesus returns as The Risen Christ. He as the Risen one is sometimes goes un recognized . Even those who had the deepest relationship with Him, such as Mary, failed to recognize Him. She did, however, come to know Him when He spoke his name. There was those who did accept the fact that HE was risen, then there was Thomas. I disagree with the fact he is called, "Doubting Thomas". There was nothing doubtful about “I will not believe", he is here, "Thomas The Denier". He gives doubting a bad name. Questioning and doubting are an essential part of our faith journey. I really like that definition of faith, it is doubt grounded in Hope. As regards questions. In all questions is ALREADY sewn the answer. The only difficulty with the answer is that it contains the seeds of a new question, and so the process continues. It will NEVER stop, in this life. So the we are a community of Questioners. Living the questions so as to live into the answers. (Nouwen) As we reverence, respect, and develop patience with our own process, so we will have with those who are the same path as we are on, and ever will be.

We read how The Risen uses His wounds to bring Thomas to Faith. Yes, THE risen Christ does carry the wounds of His crucifixion. He still has the wounds in His hands, and side. His sacred wounds become a gift for Thomas. It is the very same with you and I. From our everyday life experience we are wounded. We too are beaten, broken, bruised and betrayed. After all, we are the heroes, of our stories. As it was with the heroes of old, so it is with us. Now we can take it one step further as it was with Jesus Christ, so it is, right now with you and I. We are contemporary Christians heroes. We, too, are asked to share our wounds with those who have questions about life and the value of life. WE are given fellow human beings who are discouraged because of some failure, disappointment and or, loss. We can only be of help when we are able with, sometimes brutal honesty, share our experience of crucifixion, and in most cases crucifixions. We have as Christians an ever deepening journey into That Mystery we have been baptized into, The Paschal.

Because of the work of The Spirit, The Historical Jesus, is now The Christ of God. We, too, at each Mass, and in our prayers surrender all the brokenness, all of the betrayals, all the losses, and all the deaths to the self same Power, the self same Spirit that brought about the Resurrection. Yes!! The very same. We are reminded that suffering of itself has no value. We have to bring all that we suffer to prayer. It is ONLY, and I mean Only, then that our wounds become, Sacred Wounds. As sacred wounds, they now have within them the strength, hope and encouragement, our fellow human beings are so desperately in need of. But, it takes courage to tell, honestly our story. Come to think of it, it is not our story, it is the story of God within us. What faith our God has in us. He, who is Omnipotent, has confined Himself to the limitations of our life. He awaits to be revealed only through our authentic human actions. He is in other words, a Prisoner .

The question begs to be asked, when will I free THE Prisoner, so in the freedom of our human actions the world will continue to be transfigured and transformed. So, too many who have lost hope, just as the early disciples lost hope, will be brought to a RENEWED faith. Their faith will, of necessity be deeper. This faith will be a life giving faith , freed from judgment and condemnation. From the apparent, seeming, death new life has sprung. "By The Lord this has been done , and it is marvelous in our eyes." We can then proclaim from the depths of our nothingness, and emptiness, Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ comes again and again within the everyday adventure, we call life. That is why; life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived. So now, when somebody says to you, “I do not understand you”, just say, “I know that, so just reverence me, my questions and wounds, no matter how deep they are”. See and be utterly amazed at what is revealed to you.

Shalom....Is Way Beyond Peace!

The Paschal Mystery is "THE" mystery of our Faith. We proclaim this mystery again, and again. We are being brought back, as it were, to a well that has no bottom, but offers endless refreshment with mystery we are led, always, to a deeper understanding of what we thought we already understood. There are layers upon layers of meaning to mystery. The challenge of The Paschal Mystery is, we have to deep inside so as to be brought to and ever new realization, we are this Mystery. All this happens through grace. It cannot be hurried. It is a very slow process, taking place in God's gracious, ever so gentle time. We will be brought gentle, and slowly to an encounter with all that Jesus endured. We are called to be like Him. We are called to follow Him , so that where he went we are destined to follow.

To be a disciple means, that whatever Jesus and those first disciples we through, that is the journey which we , of necessity, we will always be on. The journey we read about in the Scriptures will be enfleshed by us, in the world we are given to live in. The same joys, and sorrows will be, as they have been , our every day experience. This is the process of, soul making. Here is what May Sarton has written, "It is only when we can believe that we are creating the soul that life has meaning, but when we can believe it-and I do and always have- then there is nothing we do that is without meaning and nothing that we suffer that does not hold the seed of creation in it". Pretty power-full stuff???

So in every death IS sewn the seeds of the Resurrection. Just as in every success is sewn the seeds of loss and disappointment. In every success we must be aware Calvary is now our Destiny. This is our spiritual journey, and there is NO moment we are not on that journey. On this journey there will be times when we can be glad we are on this very mysterious way. We can join the Palm Sunday crowds and recognize, for a time, who Jesus is. Life is so good when we are aware of His presence, and His ready worse of advise. It is all together when we can identify the disciples hidden away in that room, with the doors locked. He who they followed is now no longer present. He has let them down. Their expectations have not been met, consequently resentment has set in, as it always does in cases like this. May I suggest some of the feelings which those 'lost" men and women had to deal with on that first Easter morning. From the scriptures we see, the following, helplessness, confusion, bewilderment, hopelessness, disconnectedness, frustration, guilt, fear, shame, anger, hurt, all leading to excruciating, and paralyzing pain. That is the same with all of us who as spiritual beings, who are having this oh so human experience. When we are honest, and honesty is a necessary prerequisite for the spiritual journey, we can say there is not one feeling on that list that has not been part of our human experience. Now admitting, and owning those feeling is something all together different. That is another process to speak about. (Go back to the very beginning of the blog and there you will find some insights, and also something to practice, practice, and then, practice some more.)

Is all lost then for the disciples, and us? Of course not, that is what the skeptics say. When all SEEMED lost, then the Risen Christ appears. What are His words to those who had betrayed, abandoned and deserted Him? Were words of disappointment, and resentment uttered? Did He bring Peter to task for his denial? A denial that was foretold. There was no, “I told you so”. Jesus came to reveal that God's ways are not our ways. They are way and beyond what we can imagine. So there is no condemnation, "For in God there IS no condemnation". Rather, The One who was so cruelly treated offers the gift of Shalom. Shalom is the greeting of the Risen Christ. For the longest time I thought that shalom just meant peace. It does mean peace, and so much more. Shalom means ALL of the following; Contentment, harmony, rest, completeness, soundness, wholeness (holiness), health, safety, prosperity, tranquility, the absence of agitation and discord, last but not the least shalom means peace. What a great gift offered to those dispirited men and women? That gift has been with the disciples of Jesus Christ through the centuries, until it reaches you and I, as we live out our lives in 2011.

For each one of us, again when we are honest, there will one, two ,or three or even more of the gifts of shalom we are need of right now. What do you need of the Risen Christ that will make life a little more bearable? What is the darkness that is our present life experience which is need of THE LIGHT, so we can discover in that darkness our tomb experience. We ask to be lead to the belief this is where we are buried with Jesus, and just as He was risen we too shall enter a new and different way of living. This is the GUARANTEE of our faith. Let us not hesitate to claim this reality. Yes, Christ has died, and I have died with him. Just as Christ has risen, I too shall experience the same joy, the same freedom of The risen Christ. All that Shalom means, can be ours. All we have to do is really claim who we really are. I forget who wrote the following, I like it.

“Make ready for Christ, whose smile like lightening, sleeps in your paper flesh, like dynamite." Wow !!! Are we ready for that ???