Let the mysterious "seeing" begin !!! Light and Dark Go to the altar. Part 4

Right now the demands of hospitality are an essential part of life, and living.  It can, therefore, be a time of excitement, anticipation, expectation as the difficult work of preparation progresses. ( I am looking here at the ideal. Your reality will be far from the ideal.  After all life is messy.) It is a time when the hard work of hospitality is uppermost on the minds of many.  This gracious season comes anew to us each year, and reaches us ,who are ever new.  We will never do anything or meet somebody for the second time. Our acceptance of the reality of "the new" and "ever newness" is essential for us to have a life of mystery and excitement  .Does not life become dull and so boring when the excitement which newness brings with it is longer in our line of vision.  We need to have our lenses, at least tweaked, and in some cases refocused.  I am so aware that there is so much actual blindness that prayer for new sight and deeper seeing must be our constant practice."With God all things are possible."

As we live our lives in 2019 a new way of seeing must lead to a new level of awareness and action. We must claim the vision of the inherent uniqueness of each part of creation an essential component of the original plan. Nothing is to be left out. It is not for unenlightened finite mind to comprehend the plan that has been in existence from eternity. So there must be a new enlightening, the development of a new awareness otherwise the world as we know it will cease to exist.  Nature does not need humankind, humankind desperately needs a healthy Mother Nature.  The earth was in existence for a long time before humans showed up.  There are studies now on what the earth will look like when there are no human inhabitants.  I read that if the history of creation was written as a book of a 1,000 pages we would show up on page 944 !!!

Let the mysterious "seeing" begin !!! Light and Dark Go to the altar. Part 3

As I write this I am aware that this is a special time. It is a sacred, mysterious time.  What we daily seek and search for is gifted to us on each special day, and not just on the one we deem as special.  On the other hand we need special days and special celebrations to remind us of the sacredness and Mysterious Presence that is our gift as we take every unique step of our life’s journey.  This unique gift comes to us from our Gracious Loving Creator through the instrumentality of fellow human beings.  Human instrumentality is one of the chosen channels through which, what is essential for healthy lives, and living is gifted to us. We can be led through grace, see what is really happening in this special time for visits, visitors, and hospitality for ALL visitations. (The essence of the spiritual journey is to look at something familiar for such a length of time that it is not familiar anymore.)  We are called to see the reality beyond what we see.  There seems to be two realities here but actually there is only one reality revealing oneness of The One, The Only.  Coming to realize this oneness will lead to the development of a new awareness, a new consciousness.

Let the mysterious "seeing" begin !!! Light and Dark Go to the altar. Part 2

There is also the dark side of Thanksgiving.  The pain that comes from past memories and those created in 2019.  When the water is poured into the chalice to mix with the wine, there go your tears of anger, frustration, resentment, bitterness etc. You pour into The Chalice of Suffering your pain and suffering, that which is too much for you to handle by yourself.  In this action all of your suffering is now united with the offering of The Suffering Christ to His and our Mercy-full father.  What happens when these offerings are made, what is our bread, and wine of tears now becomes The Body and the Blood of The Risen Christ.  This is then given to us in The sacrament of The Eucharist for our nourishment and encouragement.  We go out rested and renewed, with the exception of parents of "God’s little darlings."  I do not know how, but through the sacramental grace of the Sacrament of marriage Our Gracious Creator provides in ways we do not understand.  Otherwise, how would families and as a consequence the church survive?

This greater faith community is no more than the sum total of "the little churches of the home."  At St. Andrew the Apostle the parish was seen in the following way.  First you had the "little church of the home."  Then you had, "the neighborhood church."  Then you had the gathering of all, in The faith Community of St. Andrew The Apostle. (For more information on St. Andrew’s unique vision read Patrick Brennan’s book "Parishes that excel in America.")

The Thanksgiving meal, for those who are so blessed as to be able to afford one, has special meaning.  It is the gathering of relations, some whom are real friends, in a meal like no other meal for its significance.  Thanksgiving meals are a sign of something, but each one of us will have to work out what the sign is for our meal.  When I looked up the meaning, the definition of sign it contained the following.  A sign can be an event whose presence indicates the probable occurrence of something else.  We would like to think of the Thanksgiving meal is a meal where welcome and hospitality are the essential ingredients.  They are in reality the first course.  All that follows are meant to enhance what underlines around the table.  The Thanksgiving table is a sacred place.  It is the place where we are encountered with something way beyond our human understanding.  It is in that real meeting, real encounter with fellow human beings that The Mysterious Presence in revealed to us, and through us to those Our Higher Power will place on out trail.

Let the mysterious "seeing" begin !!! Light and Dark Go to the altar.

We begin our mysterious season with that great day of eucharist celebration. Yes!! you read right.  When we enter the arena of thanksgiving we are actually dealing with, eucharist.  We are told that the word eucharist in Greek means," to give thanks."  So when we are celebrating our Thanksgiving meal, it is in reality an eucharistic celebration. ( I am using eucharist with a small "e" to distinguish from the ritual Eucharistic Sacrament, and Sacrifice.)  Just think about this, the feelings, the thoughts and emotions that were yours Thanksgiving as you sat at the table which in reality, the altar of the "little church of the home,"  are to be brought to where?  To the Eucharistic altar of the greater faith community.  When the celebrant, who takes the place of Christ, lifts up the bread on the paten, there you attach to his offering all those moments that were "bread" for you on Thanksgiving Day.  All those who have been or are now bread for you on this life's journey go on it as well.  Make this your weekly practice and in this way your daily life and what happens in The Eucharistic Celebration is connected in a real way with practical results, but not necessarily in the way that was expected.  God is not called The God of Surprises for no reason!!!