Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone will open to me, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

These words of Jesus are not simply picturesque poetry.  It is truly a question of who is the host and who is the guest.  He means to be with us in every circumstance of our lives, in conversation, in deliberation, in reflection, in our work.  He would sit with us at our table and invite us to sit with Him at His.  He would walk with us in our day-to-day lives and invite us to walk with Him in His.  He would stand before the gates of hell and the powers of death with us, and He invites us to stand with Him agains all the powers of evil and destruction.  He is our blood-covenant God, our Redeemer, our shield, and our very great reward.

Most of us as children made a blood-covenant with a close friend: bff; your enemies are my enemies; your friends are my friends.  I will eat at your table; you will eat at mine.  We are one.  So, too, has Jesus sealed the pact in His own blood.  In the Old Testament Jewish sacrifices, the blood of goats and lambs was sprinkled both on the altar of God and on the people to signify this union.  Now, we have the blood of the God-man as testimony that God has irreversibly entered human history and will not leave us to our own devices.  He has not required our blood in return, but only that we "open the door" that He might come in and sit down at our table.

refllections on Gregory and Julian

Gregory's most characteristic message is his consideration of perpetual progress (we are where we are; we cannot be elsewhere on the road.  It is no good to worry that we are not where someone else is, for that would only hinder our journey.) 

What is important is only that, like St. Benedict, we vow each day to begin again and like Abraham, each day to build an altar where we can "check in" with the One Who leads us in the dark to we know not where.  We can know only Him Who leads us; we cannot know where we are going, nor how we will get there, nor when we will arrive.  Faith knows, as Julian of Norwich tells us again and again, that "all things and all manner of things shall be well."  And we know we shall see that for ourselves, because the One Who leads us is trustworthy.

More Gregory of Nyssa + Julian of Norwich

Somehow in my notes after Katrina, I managed to combine some of Gregory with some of Julian--I had heard stories from my colleagues of incredible suffering during and after the storm, and I was feeling pretty well off, since so many people had helped us so much.    The notes that follow do not make a distinction between Gregory and Julian, although the last paragraph is Julian's primary message.  The first three, I am sure, come from Gregory:


We are all on a journey; we cannot look at where others are along the road (i.e., to regret that we are not where they are).  We cannot compare the journeys; they are not comparable.  We are where we are; we cannot be elsewhere.  It is true that others have trials and sorrows worse than our own.  Still, we are obliged to bear the burdens of our own life.  We have not been asked to carry someone else's burdens.

Imagine if on the highway, traveling to a destination, you were to inquire about the destinations and burdens of those traveling with you along the same way.  Imagine if you worried that you were not further along the way, as other cars who traveled the same road some time ago.

When our paths cross, when we meet up with those who are also traveling, we are obliged to help them if we can , if we hear their stories.  And perhaps in hearing their stories, it will cause us to reassess our own situations and to count our blessings.  But we are not "other people;" we are ourselves with our own histories and sensibilities and graces given to us from above.  The burdens given to each of us are accompanied by the incredible grace and presence of God Himself, who accompanies us on the way.

Everything you need will be provided; only take up your burden daily and follow.  You shall see for yourself how all things and all manner of things shall be well.

Gregory of Nyssa

While in Natchez after Katrina, I found a book on Gregory of Nyssa and began reading the writing of this man, the brother of Basil the Great.  He (Gregory) gave the opening address at the Council of Constantinople, convened by the Emperor Theodosius in 381 A.D.

On the Incarnation and Resurrection, Gregory wrote:

God hid under the covering of our human nature so as to become easy bait to him who sought to exchange us for a greater prize.  And the aim was that just like a greedy fish, he would swallow the hook of divinity together with the bait of the flesh.  Thus life would come to dwell in the realm of death; light would appear in darkness and light and life would destroy all that stood against us.

Christ did not suffer death because he had been born; rather, it was because of death that He chose to be born.  He entered into our existence to restore us from [the clutches of] death to life.  He touched death itself, so that He might make of our human nature, in His own image, a principle of resurrection.  We rise from death and destruction--the gates of hell shall not prevail against us.

Sounding the Depths

It is characteristic of spiritual growth not to produce satiety, precisely because it is a continual discovery of what is new. 

The mystic is neither exclusively a freak nor a monk, but the Christian who sounds the depths of his awareness of the world and of revelation.

   ---from the jacket cover of From Glory to Glory, edited by Jean Danielon, S.J. and Herbert Musurillo, S.J.

Like the journey of Abraham, the spiritual life is a continual adventure, a day-by-day discovery of surprise and delight.  Those who attempt the journey, the awareness of what God is about in their own history, do not grow tired or disappointed, but are continually led on to new awareness and new insights.

We are all on a journey as we go through life; whether we are aware of it or not, our journeys will lead either to a jaded outlook or to new and ever-more exciting wonder.  Every day leads us either to greater integration or to more dis-integration.  We believe we do not have time for prayer, but without it, "the center does not hold," in the words of T.S. Eliot, I believe, and our worlds fall apart, "not with a bang, but with a whimper."

It does not matter how we pray; all that matters is that we begin.  As St. Augustine said, "Pray as you can, not as you can't."

The Journey

Gregory of Nyssa points out that the soul who approaches God as did Abraham, not through any pre-conceived notions or systems, but in the darkness of faith, is united with the God of the Bible and not with an abstract essence or idea.

Faith is the only way by which the soul can be united to the Transcendent.  In the journey, we leave all that is familiar and comfortable to us, all that is important and valued in our culture, and set out towards the unknown.  We know not whether we will be successful or whether we will die on the way.  We have no resources or support system but God Himself, and we are not too sure at first about whether He will indeed go with us on the way.

But in crossing the desert, we discover day by day that "our feet do not swell and our shoes do not wear out."  On the contrary, almost as soon as we realize our need for somethng, it is provided to us.  We learn to ask, and we learn dependency on God alone as our Resource.

Abraham's journey from Harran to Canaan allowed him to refuse the spoils of war offered to him by the King of Salem; the journey taught him that God Alone was his shield and his very great reward.  He could allow others to divide the rewards of earthly pursuits.

Jesus told Peter at the Last Supper that if he [Peter] did not allow Jesus to wash his feet, he [Peter] would have "no part" in Him [Jesus].  The whole point of a journey in faith is to allow God to wash our feet, feed our bodies and souls, and to become a familiar Presence and faithful Friend to us.  Jesus did not wash the feet of His disciples just to give us an example of humility, but because He always and everywhere reflected the nature of God---and what God wants of us more than anything else is for us to allow Him to wash the dust from our feet and our souls.

Let Me go with you; Let Me walk with you; Let Me share your burden, lift the load from your shoulders.  I can carry it better than you can.

Moving In

When we take possesion of and claim a space as our own, we clear away the junk left by the previous owner, re-arrange the furniture, and re-model the rooms until we are happy with everything and feel the space reflects our own taste and personality. 

Maybe we should give God the same privilege in our hearts---to make them His own living space.

Karl Rahner on Grace

had to pass this along---it's too good to keep:

Karl Rahner understands grace as gushing from the innermost heart and center of the human being and of the entire world.  God's self-communication, to Rahner, "does not take place as a special phenomenon, as one particular process apart from the rest of human life.  Raher it is quite simply the ultimate depths and the radical dimension of all that which the spiritual person experiences, achieves, and suffers in all those areas in which he achieves his own fullness, and so in his laughter and his tears, in his taking of responsibility, in his loving, living, and dying, whenever he keeps faith with the truth, breaks through his own egotism in his relationships with his neighbor, whenever he hopes against all hope, whenever he smiles and refuses to be disquieted or embittered by the folly of his everyday pursuits, whenever he is able to be silent, and whenever within this silence of the heart that evil which man has engendered against another in his heart does not develop any further into external action but rather dies within this heart as its grave----whenever, in a word, life is lived as a man would seek to live it, in such a way as to overcome his own egotism and the despair of the heart which constantly assails him.  There grace has the force of an event, because all this of its very nature...loses itself in God's silent infinity, is hidden in his absolute unconditionality of the future in the fullness of victory which in turn is God Himself."

[my reflection:]
kind of makes Emmanuel--God is with us---come alive, doesn't it?

Ask, Ask, Ask and Do not stop asking....

We come to truth not by studying or thinking, but by revelation.  Few of us could study or think long enough, deeply enough, persistently enough, to begin to approach the truth, even if it were possible to do so.  But thanks be to God, He gives His gifts to the poor and the humble, not to the sleek and the strong:  "You have not because you ask not----[Ask]* and it shall be given unto you, overflowing, without measure, pressed down, running over...."  

All we need do is ask, and what we need is ours.  The wisdom of the world cannot match the wisdom of Jesus Christ residing in the smallest of His followers.

*The Scripture actually says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you...."  I am applying the phrasing here to express what happens also when we ask....see Matthew 7 and Luke 11.

Experience

We say that experience is the best teacher, and that is because experience alone educates the mind, the heart, and the spirit all at once.  The mind cannot embrace truth without the involvement of the heart and the spirit.  "Facts" are dimly grasped unless the heart links them to meaning or universal spiritual truth. 

We will all ultimately learn what we love---those things that capture our hearts and well as our minds.  Our spirits will embrace as true those things that we love:

The person with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.

We believe only what we experience.  We may believe that another person has truly had some experience, but that experience is not our own.  This is why God had to enter human history in the person of Jesus Christ.  Unless we have a personal experience of God's love, it is almost impossible to believe that He would have anything at all to do with us.  Once we have experienced His love for ourselves, it becomes impossible to believe anything else.

Blessing and Curse

It is very clear from Scripture that our lives on this earth will be either a blessing or a curse.  Adam produced two sons---the natural man (Cain) and the godly/ spiritual man (Abel).  The natural man wars against the spiritual man and seeks to destroy him.  The natural man knows that the spiritual man is destined to take his place; he understands that should he allow the spiritual man to gain ascendency, that he himself will diminish to the point of death.  This is why Jesus, the man from heaven, was destroyed in the flesh.

Those who are not born of the Spirit believe that by killing the spiritual man, they will hold on to their realm of power.  What they do not know and cannot know is that the spiritual man is indestructible and will return in even greater power and glory once he has shed the natural man.

Jesus said to the Apostles, "You grieve now because I am going away---but I will return, and in that day, your joy will be full, and no one will rob you of your joy."
In our own lives, we see the destruction of the natural man, the man of vengence and bloodshed, the man of war and of hatred, and we rejoice at the arrival of the spiritual man, a man of blessing, created in the image of God.

The Law of God

God's truth is an anchor to our souls, our lives, keeping us from drifting without direction all over the place, crashing into levees like unchained barges, wrecking havoc and destruction on millions of people, destroying lives and flooding cities with chaos and confusion. 

Lest this image seem to be hyperbole, look at the effects of crime in New Orleans. Katrina's wreckage seems but a pale reflection of the destruction wrought on the city by violence and crime.  Drug lords, gang warfare, retaliation, brother against brother---and the innocent cry out to God for relief and peace.  There seems to be no way to stop those bent on destruction.

C.S.Lewis points out that God's law brings safety and security to those who hear and obey it.  God's law, according to Lewis, is "unassailable," rooted in the very nature of life and in the nature of God Himself:

Thy righteousness stands like the strong mountains; thy judgments are like the great deep (Ps. 36:6)

Lewis tells us that those who discover the law of God discover the delight of "having touched firmness--like the pedestrian's delight in feeling the hard road beneath his feet after a false short cut has long entangled him in muddy fields."

Lewis looks at the temptation of the Jews to embrace the pagan practices of the cultures surrounding them, but "when a Jew...looked at those worships--when he thought of sacred prostitution, sacred sodomy, and the babies thrown into the fire ofr Moloch---his own law as he turned back to it must have shone with an extraordinary radiance" (Reflections on the Psalms).

Maybe, as Lewis points out, we cannot truly appreciate the beauty, sweetness, and reasonableness of God's law until we experience living in a violent and corrupt environment which makes us cry out for the pure air of safety and peace.  Maybe the destruction wrought by Katrina was our chance to begin again on solid ground.

David, like the victims of modern-day violence, had had enough of the schemes and plots of evil men and was not afraid to cry out to God:

If only you would destroy these violent godless men who are tying to kill me...O my God, blow them away like dust, like the chaff before the wind---as a forest fire that roars across a mountain.  Chase them with your fiery storms, tempests, and tornadoes.  Utterly disgrace them until they recognize your power and name, O Lord.  Make them failures in everything they do; let them be ashamed and terrified until they learn that you alone, O Yahweh, are the God above all gods in supreme charge of all the earth (Ps. 83: 13-18 TLB) 

To those evildoers and destroyers, David offers an "alternative lifestyle:

How happy are those who are strong in the Lord, who want above all else to follow your steps.  When they walk through the valley of weeping, it will become a place of springs where pools of blessing and refreshment collect after the rains (Ps. 84:5-6).

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the the temple of my God than to live in the palaces of the wicked.  For Yahweh God is our light and our protector.  He gives us grace and glory.  No good thing does He withhold from those who walk along His paths  (Ps. 84:10-11)

God is not deaf or blind

The Lord hears the cry of the poor, and those bowed down in spirit He saves.

If Scripture reveals anything to us about God's relationship to mankind, it is that He is attentive to us and to our cries.  Just as parents know intimately the voices of their children, just as parents are extremely sensitive to the cries of their children, so is God toward us.  He hears the sound of our voices when we cry, and He is moved with pity toward us.

God spoke to Cain:  What have you done?  A sound---your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil!  I wonder how many aborted babies have cried out from garbage cans and plastic bags; I wonder how many soldiers have cried out from ditches in Afghanistan; I wonder how many homeless have died in the streets of our cities.

God does not prevent man's violence on the earth, but He hears the ensuing cries of sorrow and grief.  When Lamekh had lived a long time and had seen mankind's deep trouble and grief, he had a son whom he named Noah/ comfort, saying, "May this one comfort our sorrow from our toil, from the pains of our hands coming from the soil, which YHWH has cursed."

The soil, the earth, is cursed because of our violence, sometimes to the point where it can no longer bear fruit.  Noah was sent by God to provide a refuge in the great destruction the earth was about to undergo.  Throughout Scripture, we find God's attention and care for those who are burdened, afflicted, cast out, rejected by society, or victims of cruelty by their fellow men.

Hagar, the Egyptian slave-woman, was cast out into the desert by Abraham and Sarah.  Sarah says to Abraham bitterly, "May YHWH see justice done between me and you!"  But what God "sees" here is the outcast, the lonely one, the one without resources or hope---the pregnant servant girl in the wilderness.  And His message to her is this:  "You will bear a son; call his name Ishmael/ God hears, for God has hearkened to your being afflicted."

Hagar, Scripture goes on to tell us, "called the name of YHWH, the one who was speaking to her: 'You God of seeing!' for she said, 'Have I actually gone on seeing here after His seeing me?' Therefore the well was called: Well of the Living One Who Sees Me."

God sees.  God hears.  God knows.

Hundreds of years after Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, God hears the children of Israel groaning from their servitude in Egypt, "and they cried out; and their plea for help went up to God, from the servitude."  The writer of Exodus without hesitation tells us, "God hearkened to their moaning...God saw the children of Israel; God knew."

Once again, as in the days of Noah, God prepared an escape, a way out, a refuge from their distress.  On the back side of the desert was a man uniquely sent and prepared by God for his mission of deliverance/comfort to the Israelites.  God's words to Moses were these: I have seen, yes, seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt; their cry have I heard in the face of their slave drivers; indeed, I have known their sufferings!  So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of Egypt...So now, here, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.  So now, go, for I send you to Pharoah--bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt!

In Psalm 139, David, who knew first hand from his many experiences in the desert the all-seeing, all hearing providence of God, cried out his response to the God-Who-Sees-and Hears:

How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly.  I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me.  And when I awake in the morning, You are still thinking about me!  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts.  Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

It is only when we fully realize "how many times a day" God is thinking about us, as David says, that we are finally able to cry out with David, "Search me and know my heart, test my thoughts...and lead me along the way of everlasting life.

And then....and then....we ourselves can become, like Noah, a comfort and like Moses, a deliverer, for people in anguish and toil.

The Immaculate Conception

Mary brought forth the Divine Word first in hidden obscurity; He entered the world in a Bethlehem cave, revealed only to shepherds in fields nearby at first.  But, amazingly, God was at the same time drawing wise men from the east to the hidden cave, revealing to them something Mary could and would not have spoken.

At the wedding of Cana, however, Mary brought Him forth publicly, giving birth to His public ministry.  Knowing Who He was, she brought forth His Divinity as she had His humanity, by yielding to the Holy Spirit, Who revealed to her the time and season.  Jesus, recognizing in her the spirit of obedience to God, honored her plea.

Her first "yes" to God brought forth her Son; her second yielding to the Spirit released Him for the purpose and plan of God for the world.  She who had been given a great gift allowed that Gift to be given to the world.  He from that time on would no longer be "hers," but ours.

In us, too, the Word of God takes flesh, not only for our own comfort and salvation, but for the world in which we live.  We must allow the Spirit to form in us the Christ, and we must also listen for the Spirit's directive to release Him for those who "have no wine." 

sacred space

When God began creating the heavens and the earth, He began by "making space" for all the wonderful things to come.  First came the light, the energy of life.  On the second day, He created the sky and the sea, followed by the dry land on the third day. 

The fourth, fifth, and sixth days were devoted to filling the empty spaces with corresponding blessings: 

1.  light                               4.  sun, moon, stars
2.  sea and sky                    5.  birds and fish
3.  dry land/ vegetation      6.  animals / humans

It follows that if we want anything to happen in our lives, we must first "make space" for it to happen.  Physically, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually--nothing can enter our lives until we have made space for it.  If we want to paint, we must find a corner where painting can occur; if we want to pray, our first step is to find our "sacred space" where prayer can happen---a chair, our bed, the front porch, or our favorite tree.

The important thing is to have access daily to our sacred space, with tools nearby to help us---a bible, a journal, inspirational reading, a window, etc.  At first, it may be that nothing happens in the sacred space; we feel we are just wasting time.  But soon, if we persevere, our bodies, minds, and souls will begin to recognize the space as a place of prayer.  If we stay there for fifteen minutes a day at first, something will begin to happen in that sacred space:  our bodies will relax; our minds soften and slow down, and the soul, the spirit in us will tentatively emerge into a place of safety. 

We may find ourselves thinking of all the things we have to do---and get frustrated, thinking we are being distracted from praying.  But it may be that the Holy Spirit is guiding us into getting our lives in order, reminding us of what is important.  It helps to have a notebook nearby where we can jot down the ideas that come to us, so that once again our minds may be free and open to receive whatever blessings will come to us at that moment.

Carving out space and time for God each day is absolutely necessary for a relationship with Him.  Believing in Him is not as important as allowing Him access to us on a daily basis.  He has His arms full of blessings, but there is often no space in our lives for Him to put them down.

weak and foolish

God uses the weak and foolish things of this world to confound the strong and powerful

Mother Teresa is one of the best modern examples of the truth of this scripture.  Standing about 4'10", with 5 rupees in her pocket, she left the security of her convent and teaching job to go out in faith on the streets of Calcutta and pick up the sick and dying.  How could she have the courage to do such a thing?

Her eyes were not fixed, as are ours, on her insufficiency, but on the power of God to use the weakest instruments to accomplish His work.  Paul said, "I glory in my infirmities, for when I am weak, Christ is strong in me."  Paul was looking at the crucified man who was entirely submitted to God's plan.  And this submission is not beyond our reach also.  Those of us who have no hope of doing anything at all for God because we see the reality of our lives---unfaithful, chaotic, inconstant, incapable of sustaining initiative or momentum---can commend  the whole mess into His hands, as did Jesus on the cross.

Therese of Lisieux, who was Mother Teresa's patron and role model, acknowledged that she could not climb "the rough stairway of perfection," but like a helpless child, had to stand at the first step and lift her arms to Jesus.  And Jesus, like a tender mother, descended the stairway to carry the child to her desired goal.

Perhaps our greatest obstacle is not our weakness, but our refusal to trust God.

Karl Rahner on Christmas

A friend sent me Karl Rahner's reflections on Christmas, some of which may take years to absorb.  However, some hit home right away; those are the ones I'd like to share:

Have the courage to be alone.  Only when you have really achieved that, when you have done it in a Christian way, can you hope to present a Christmas heart, that is, a gentle, patient, courageous, delicately affectionate heart, to those whom you are striving to love.  That gift is the real Christmas-tree gift; otherwise all other presents are merely futile expense which can be indulged in at any time.

Rahner's words remind me of a wonderful book called Stopping, a book which I have either given or lent to dozens of people over the years, a book which I plan to re-read myself this Christmas.  The author, Dr. David Kundtz, quotes poets a lot because he says "they are  always looking at life." 

He quotes Rainer Maria Rilke saying, "I am the rest between two notes," and he quotes Walt Whitman saying, "I loafe and invite my soul."  Teilhard De Chardin says, "the whole of life lies in the verb seeing."

When we stop "between notes" and invite our souls, in Whitman's words, we begin to see, to see what cannot be seen without stopping, or "loafing."  Rahner encourages us, when we are alone, not to talk to ourselves or to others the way we do even when they are not there.  He advises us not to accuse ourselves, or to praise ourselves, but only to wait, without expecting any unusual experience.  What we hear is usually silence, and he wants us to bear with the silence without fleeing to the "religious symbols or concepts which can kill religion."

He wants us to believe that in the silence, God is close to us just as we are at that moment, eternity descending into our emptiness.  This is the high festival of Christmas, according to Rahner:  we can quietly and with faith accept the silence, the incomprehensibility, our lack of understanding as measureless, merciful presence.

If we can accept ourselves in this way, he says, we can experience the peace promised to men of good will.

On Being "Good"

The question is often asked, "Can't I be a good person without going to church?" And the answer is, "Certainly.  The Pharisees were good people in the natural sense.  They obeyed the law; they tithed; they gave to the poor and followed the rituals of their faith.  But their hearts were far from God, instead focused on the good things they were doing." 

Of course, the Pharisees also attended Temple services, so one could argue that the question does not apply.  But the question assumes that "being good" is the point of going to church.  The church-goer, the obeyer of the law, needs a relationship with God every bit as much as the sinner or the non-church goer.  The aim is not to "be good;"  the aim is friendship with God, Who Alone is the Source of all good.

If His love and guidance is not the source of our "being good," our best actions often produce mixed results.  It is wonderful to do good in the world, but it is even better to allow God access to the human condition through us.  Only the Holy Spirit knows what should be done in any given circumstance---there is no "formula" except prayer and freedom in Jesus Christ.

Sometimes, as Jesus demonstrated, it is better to break the law in favor of mercy and compassion.  But unless we are attuned to God's direction in each circumstance, unless our hearts are open to hear His voice at each moment, we are most likely not to do what He would have us do. 

Learning to listen to that inner Voice, for most of us, means being trained in the ways of God by listening together with the community of believers.  We cannot be sure we are really hearing the voice of God within until it has been affirmed over and over again through the community of those who are listening too.  So church, then, is a place where our spiritual gifts can grow, a place where we can be blessed by others and where we ourselves can learn to be a blessing to them.

A Sense of Adventure

Do we dare to allow God to have His way in our lives?  Do we dare allow Him to fulfill His dreams for us?  Each one of us was created for some specific purpose, but until we allow God to lead us on the journey, as He did Abraham, that purpose will not be fulfilled.

Until God speaks, we are, as Augustine says, in chaos, unformed, and unfit/ unordered towards the fulfillment of God's plan.  But the entrance of His word forms us, making us fit for what we were created to do.  We are not all trees, nor all flowers, nor all flowing water---never mind what our neighbor looks like: that is not what we are supposed to look like.

Let us not be afraid to ask for the desires of our heart, but let us also be open to hear the desires of God's heart for us.  We may be surprised to learn that His desires far exceed anything we can ask or imagine.  The adventure and delight lie in allowing God to fulfill His dream in us:  Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.  What a great adventure, to watch it happen!

Let us carve out a small portion of the earth where God is given permission to act as He wills on our behalf.  Let us invite our friends and neighbors to the place where God is free to act on their behalf.  Let us not shut out anyone by our refusal to welcome them into the house, the field, where God is free to bless them through us.

The Gift of God

To be led by the Spirit of God is to be led by love, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and truth.  How can we not desire to be led by God?  How can we desire anything else the world has to offer?

The "Gift of the Father" Jesus spoke about is the Gift of His own Spirit to us.

The Gift of the Spirit is knowledge of Jesus--the Word of God.

The Gift of Jesus is knowledge of the Father, and the Father gives the Gift of His Spirit to those brought to Him by the Son. 

So we are brought into the very family of the Trinity to enjoy the dynamism of eternal life.

Let us not stop asking for the Gift of the Father given to us in His Son, Who is the embodiment of God wholly united with man.

Our Daily Baths

John baptized with water, but not many days hence, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Before and during the time of Christ, the Jews entered the temple between two huge vats, or "baths:"  one contained water and one contained the sacrificial blood.  So, too, we enter the temple of God's presence through blood ----the death of our "flesh," or the natural man, which is crucified with Jesus on the cross----and through water, or the new life given by the Spirit of God.  We enter through the death of the old man and the birth of the new.  Paul says, We are dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus.

Both processes are continuous and on-going.  Daily, the "works of the flesh" die within us, and the Spirit Himself prays within us and gives us the spirit and nature of the Christ.  In the letter to the Galatians, Paul shows us both natures:

Now the works of the flesh are obvious:  immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.  ... By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I remember a great lesson given to me by a counselor at the Cenacle.  For years, I had attempted Transcendental Meditation, Yoga, Unitarianism, and a host of other techniques to keep my life from spinning out of control.  When I finally broke, emotionally, and went to the Cenacle to rest for a couple of days, a sister there said to me, Gayle, you cannot give yourself peace.

I don't know why this was such a revelation to me, but it was as if a light had entered my soul with those words:  you cannot give yourself peace.  Certainly, if it were possible, I would have done it.  Now I know that peace is a gift of the Spirit of God; He alone has it to bestow, and we have only to ask. 

Both the bath of blood and the bath of water are gifts--we cannot on our own either put to death the works of the flesh, which have been bred into us with our DNA, nor can we "do" the works of the Spirit of God.  Everything is received from above, and it is daily received, not once and forever.

Paul says, If we live in the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.  He will accomplish in us all that the Father wills.

Advent

As a child, I never "got" Advent.  Why were we pretending to await the birth of the Savior when He had already come?  Why were we re-creating the 400 years between the time of the last prophet and the coming of the Christ Child to Bethlehem?  I never felt like I was "waiting" for Jesus when I was receiving Him in Communion every Sunday---waiting for Christmas, yes, but not for Jesus.

Now I know that as a child, my world was complete.  How could I know all the dark, cold, empty corners that existed in the world outside my own little nest?  How could I know that in my own heart there were corners and caves without light, without life, without warmth?  Now I know what it means to wait:  to look at the homeless lying on a cold sidewalk, to look at countries whose leaders imprison and persecute its citizens for dissenting views, to see within myself areas that need healing and warmth from the only One who can reach into the chaos and bring His Own Light. 

The world--my world--- is waiting to be born, is waiting for the entrance of God in the person of the Christ Child, is waiting for the One Who does not mind being born in the darkest, coldest, most isolated corner of the world---the One Who will enter a cave and light it up with His Presence. 

The world is waiting; we are not in the 400 years before Christ.  We are in the moment before He arrives.  Come, O Come, Emmanuel--God With Us!

loaves and fishes

A cleaning woman where I worked once gave me a deep purple glass-blown single-stemmed flower that had the edge of one petal broken off.  I thought it was beautiful, and kept it in a vase on my desk until I retired.  I still have that flower, and whenever I see it, it still reminds me of her love and friendship, and of the joy with which she gave me that flower.  I knew it was the best she had to give, and in my eyes, it spoke volumes of her love for me.

What we have to offer God is like that flawed flower--broken, perhaps fished out of a trash can (in the eyes of the world, fit only to be thrown away).  But it is the best we have to give, and in His eyes, our gift is eternally beautiful because it is offered to Him in love. 

The Littlest Angel, a classic book for children (and for adults) tells of a newly-arrived-in-heaven small boy who misses the box hidden under his bed back home---a box containing a butterfly, a frog, and a baseball glove, a rock he found one day, and other small treasures.  He asks the head angel if he might have that box, and his wish is granted.  When it comes time for the birth of Jesus on earth, all the angelic choir prepare their best gifts for the celebration.  The littlest angel shyly offers his box of treasures to the new-born child.  Of all the gifts of heaven, it is his gift alone that is chosen to be illumined forever as the Star of Bethlehem. 

That book is a charming tale, but once a real boy on earth offered Jesus a basket containing two fish and five loaves, and his small gift fed 5000 men, women, and children.  There is, in truth, no telling what God will do with our very small gifts to Him.

Gift of the Father

Why was Jesus anxious for us to receive the "Gift of the Father"?  (He spent almost the entire night before He died talking about the HOly Spirit, and before ascending into heaven, His last words were, "Wait for the Gift of the Father.)

What is the Gift of which He spoke?  What can the Holy Spirit do for us?

1.  The Spirit of the Lord hovers/ broods over the chaos of our lives in order to bring light and order, balance and harmony.  He delivers us out of the hands of our enemies who are too strong for us and who threaten to overwhelm us (Ps. 18).

2.  The Spirit reveals to us the face of Jesus:  He sheds abroad in our hearts His word and His light.  He illumines all the dark places and brings to light our sins that we may be healed.

3.  He trains us for battle and builds up strength within us.

4.  He teaches us how to pray, and Himself prays within us.

5.  He makes known to us the ways of God and gives us wisdom regarding the hearts of others.  He makes us "see" the truth hidden before the foundation of the world.  He Himself is the truth, but He reveals Himself only in love and in an I-thou relationship.  No one can know the truth except that the Spirit of God brings them into relationship with the Father through the heart of His Son.

The Presence

All things in heaven and earth are filled with the Presence of God.  He has filled the earth with His wonders; what is in heaven cannot be imagined.  He has made us to respond to beauty at every turn.  In the smallest things, there is design and wonder; in the largest, there is grandeur and scope.  How blessed are those who can see Him in the work of His hands!

Joy

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior,

Because He who is mighty has done great things for me

Mary's song is the song of one overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, the One who opens our eyes to see the wonders of God acting in us and for us; the One who makes our spirits sing.  Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot even "see" the kingdom of God to rejoice in it. 

Saul fell to the ground under the annointing of the Holy Spirit, who made Jesus real and present to him.  From that time on, Paul rejoiced in the Lord.  Philip baptized the eunuch, who "went on his way rejoicing."

If we are not rejoicing in the Lord, we have not yet been annointed by the Holy Spirit.  If we cannot see the mighty things the Lord has done for us, we have not yet received the fullness of His Spirit in us.

St. Dominic Savio said this:  Joy is the unmistakeable sign of God's presence in us.  Jesus said at the Last Supper:  I tell you these things that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Can we even begin to imagine the joy of God, who "laughs in the face of His enemies"?  If we are not full of joy, let us not even hesitate to ask for this gift.  It is a gift God wants to give us, a gift Jesus died that we might have.

Seeking direction

He leads me in right paths for His Name's sake (Ps. 23)

Though we ourselves do not know our right hands from our left, He is able to guide us and teach us His ways.  Thought we cannot tell right from wrong, He is able to lead us in right paths by the Spirit He places in us:  whether you walk to the left or to the right, you will hear a voice behind you saying, 'not that way; this way'  (Is.30:21) And then you will know that I am your God, Who teaches you the way in which to walk, Who gives you songs in the night.

Christ gave His disciples two commands (after the first, which was to love one another).  He told them to "go into all nations and teach..." but first, to "wait for the Gift of the Father."  If we go before we wait, we find our own paths.  But if we wait, the Spirit Himself will send us forth with His own power and energy, to find the paths of God.

Childhood dreams

As a child, I wanted to be a missionary.  Now I know that I am no more equipped to preach the Gospel than I am to fly to the moon without assistance.  I do not know what is in the hearts and minds of other people, nor do I know the words that will touch them and bring them to know and trust in the one God, abandoning the gods of the universe to whom they now give allegiance.

What I could not know as a child is that there are "powers and principalities" (Eph. 6) of this world that hold men in their grasp.  Satan is a liar and the father of lies, but he appears as an angel of light to those whose minds and eyes are blinded by what he promises.

Jesus had to fast in the desert 40 days and 40 nights to come to the end of Himself and to be endued with the very wisdom and power of God to overcome the prince of this world.  Be we think we can do battle in our own strength and wisdom.  Paul advises us to "put on the armor of God: the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God), and the shoes of the Gospel of peace."  And then he tells us to stand, knowing we are clothed with the power of God Himself, given to us in Christ.  He (Christ) has already met and defeated the prince of this world, and the battle is no longer ours to fight.

Conversion is the work of God.  We must, like Abraham, speak with God about His plans for the souls of those we love.  Abraham could not save Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah -- the angels themselves had a tough go of it--- but he could and did trust God to protect and draw out his family from the destruction of the city.  We pray to the God Who hears our prayer and Who is not powerless to save. We know that when we pray according to His will, He is ready to answer us and to grant our heart's desires.  Will He refuse us anything we ask according to His own Spirit of truth and righteousness?

Worship

When we worship God, our eyes are opened to see clearly; our ears are opened to hear the words of God, and our minds are opened to knowledge from the Most High (Numbers 24:16).  Luke 24 tells us that "their minds were opened to comprehend the Scriptures"  -- in fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, in communion/ conversation with Christ.

Prayer aligns our spirits with the Spirit of God, harmonizing our desires with the desires of God.  Then we can ask in confidence for what we want, knowing that we have been formed in God's own image and likeness.  No wonder Jesus said we must be born again to worship in Spirit and in truth.  Just as we once bore the image of our earthly father, so now let us bear the image of God.

The Breath of God

All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim.3:16)

Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.  He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in His paths." 
       The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Micah 4:2).

Why does "Salvation come from the Jews" except that they "ascended the mountain of the Lord?"  They worshipped the true God, and He spoke to them.  Worship is indispensable to hearing the voice of God.  It is clear that Scripture is used by God for teaching us His ways, for training us in truth and righteousness; that, not only was it originally "God-breathed," but it continues to be God-breathed in those who "ascend the mountain of the Lord."

Jesus said, "No man can come to me unless the Father draw him."  God is still drawing men to His Word, His teaching, His truth, His way.  He is still breathing His Spirit into the hearts and minds of men:  Then He opened their minds to understand the words [He spoke].

If we want to receive the very words of God, they still must be received Spirit to spirit, from the very heart, mind, and breath of God Himself.  Nothing else will do.  If we do not first "ascend the mountain" of the Lord [to worship Him], we cannot hear His words of spirit and of truth.  If God is not "breathing" into us, we cannot receive His words to us.  Like Adam formed from the dust of the earth, they are there, but they are not alive to us.

When the breath of God blows into us, it blows away all that is not God, all of our false gods and pre-conceived ideas of God.  Nicodemus approached the "mountain of the Lord" when he came to Jesus at night, and Jesus clearly told him that without the Spirit, he could not even see the kingdom of God.  I believe that Nicodemus was experiencing at that moment the breath of God, the Spirit moving within him, and Jesus' words were explaining/ revealing to him what he was feeling.

Like Nicodemus, let us come to Jesus, ascend the mountain of the Lord, that we might receive from Him the very words of God:

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel...declares the Lord.

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God,

and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother,

saying, "Know the Lord," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,

declares the Lord   (Jer. 31:33-34).

God's Delight

According to Mother Teresa, God delights in us; not only does He love us---He likes us, despite all our flaws and failings.  He thirsts to be with us, to spend time in our presence.  And it doesn't matter whether we are being "good" or not; He just wants to look at us with favor.  He can make us good, but He cannot make us spend time with Him or pay attention to Him.

Each morning, I grab a cup of coffee and visit my garden.  Walking slowly and attentively, I make the entire round of the property.  This is my creation; since Katrina, I have carefully chosen each plant, rid the beds of stubborn weeds, and prepared the soil.  Now I want to see if my plants are thriving where I put them, or if they need to be moved to a more nurturing environment.  Each one has a name, and I know each by name.  Each has its own characteristics; each has its own delight; each has its own weakness.  Some will bloom wherever I put them; others need special conditions to coax them to be their best.

Recently on my rounds, I noticed a lantana that seemed to be struggling in the wet soil and partially shaded garden where I had it planted. Its leaves were curling up and turning grey on the edges, and I saw only one weak bloom at the end of a branch.  That day, I pulled it out of that bed and moved it to a recently cleared spot in full sun with drier soil.  Ever since then, the lantana has been "jumping for joy," in the words of my 5-year-old granddaughter.  As I arrive at its new spot each morning, I can almost see it laughing with multiple bright blooms, almost too many for the few little branches it now has.  It smiles at me, and I smile back at it, knowing that it is now in a place that makes it shine.

Nothing brings more joy to a gardener than to see his/her plants thrive and be happy where they are.  When they are obviously not happy, or when they are struggling to survive, the gardener immediately diagnoses the problem and goes to work on it, shoring up weak branches, composting its roots, or even moving it if necessary.  Truly, the gardener, like the Good Shepherd, will "leave the 99" to pay attention to the one most in need of care.

Each plant is loved and cared for according to its own nature and requirements.  Tall strong trees are loved for their shade and dependability and movement in the wind.  But small fragile flowers are loved for their bright colors and delicate scent.  They are not treated "equally" by the Gardener, but both are deeply loved and appreciated for the gifts they bring to the entire garden.  He does not ask the rose to be an oak, nor does He ask the oak to be a rose.  Be who you are, He says, and ask for what you need.  I am your God; I will provide.

Walking With God, Sitting With God, Standing with God

Abraham "stood before God" pleading for the lives of those in Sodom who were just, begging God not to destroy the city for the sake of 10 who were just.

But, like us, he could not have done so unless God had first revealed to his friend Abraham what He was about to do.  And God could not have revealed His plans to Abraham unless Abraham had first "walked" with God and "sat" with God.

Abraham's journey from his father's hous to a land "I will show you" taught him to walk with God.  At every step along the way, God revealed His Presence and His friendship/ support/ love/ fidelity to Abraham:  I am here; fear not.  Walking together, they became friends; Abraham learned that he could trust and rely upon God, Who would not fail or abandon him.

Sitting with God under the shade of the great tree at Mamre, Abraham first heard of God's plan for Isaac--a name which means "laughter/ joy:"  By this time next year...

Knowing God intimately, sure of His nature and friendship, Abraham finally had the boldness to "stand before Him."  Like the priests entering the Tabernacle wearing the ephod/ breastplate which bore the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, we too enter the Presence of God bearing on our hearts the names, lives, situations of those we love.  Standing before the Divine Presence, knowing Him and His heart of love, friendship, and divine compassion, we pray:

Let Your Face shine upon them, O Lord.... let them see your radiance; open their eyes and bring them out of darkness into Your marvelous light.  Untie their shackles and set them free to praise You, their Creator and great Lover. 

Poisoned Apples

Sin is recognized by the pain it causes.  (Julian of Norwich)

At the moment of sin, we do not see ahead to effects it will bring.  The famous "poison apple" of folklore appears on the surface so perfect and delectable , but it holds in its core the seeds of death and destruction.  Without wisdom, we can see only the surface of things.  That is why we need instruction from God, who sees all things and who knows the end from the beginning.

"Thou shalt not...."  And we, in our ignorance, ask, "Why not?"  What we cannot see is the pain we will cause to ourselves and others.  Inevitably, man must taste of the tree of experience/knowledge of good and evil before he believes God.  We are proud; we are independent; we can make our own decisions; no one can tell us what to do--we are like gods. 

Wendell Berry once wrote, "Man always thinks he can release a few demons into the world and then control them."  When we are in charge, we create the chaos that eventually overwhelms and destroys us.  When God is in charge, He "wipes away every tear" and "makes all things new again."

Happiness consists in movement--the brain is ultimately designed for action.  We reflect on incoming information:  What does this mean?  How does it connect to what is already known and recognized?  How can I categorize/ identify/ name this?

Once we "know" what it means or what it is called, the executive center of the brain takes over to determine action/ planning:  What do I do with this information?  How do I use if (for survival/ advancement/ growth?  Once the plan is formed, the motor center of the brain acts, and we receive feedback, or new information about our deduced meaning and plan. 

As we move, or act, we discover new things along the way, and that discovery brings pleasure.

So God continually calls us forward, "out of the empty way of life lived by your fathers" (Romans, I think).  We move on Abraham's journey from what we already know/ are used to/ toward what we cannot guess, what we do not know.  We move toward discovery, delight in the revelation of the new:  "Morning by morning, you open my ears to hear your word/ instruction/ revelation"  (have to locate the reference).

We are designed to move forward; it is when we refuse to move, when we are afraid to move, when we are stuck in all we "know" that we are unhappy, for the past has us chained to itself.   God's path for us is a journey of constant discovery and delight, of breaking free from what holds us bound.

All God asks of us is that we allow Him the freedom to dwell fully in us and to act in us.  God is He Who acts:  He eternally and always creates, gives life, fills the earth with His fullness;  He eternally and always redeems, re-creates what has been damaged, makes all things new again;  He eternally and always sanctifies, inspires, enlightens, breathes life and animates, unites, gives hope and enfolds us in love

No particle of creation is too lost that He canot restore it; no sin is so great that He cannot redeem and make new what has been destroyed; no soul has grown so cold that He cannot warm it.  Why must man feel always lost and abandoned when the Spirit of God begs entry and permission to act within us?

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the sorrowful with the warmth of your love!

Friends and Lovers

Do we enjoy God?  Do we take delight in His ways and laugh at the days to come because He is our lover and husband and shepherd and provider?  Do we walk with Him, sit with Him, stand with Him in all things? Do we study His face as a lover studies the beloved?  Do we marvel at His works and praise His beauty?  Are we friends and lovers of God? 

Only His own Spirit in us can produce these effects.  After God breathed into Adam His Ruah (breath, wind, spirit), Adam enjoyed God in the garden.  After Adam preferred knowledge of something else to intimacy with God, he hid from God in fear.  Ever since, man's natural reaction to God has been to hide his nakedness.  But lovers uncover themselves to one another without fear or shame, not because they are perfect and want to be admired, but because they are loved and because love sees perfection.  Let us uncover ourselves before God and delight in His love for us.  Perfect love casts out fear.

The power of stories

If I had never heard of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, I would not have known to ask for it.  I would not have believed that God was still at work in the world today as He was at the time of Pentecost.  But in His great mercy, He sent to me a simple child to could testify to the power of God in her own life, and from her testimony, I was drawn to ask for the same power in my own life.  All of my education and "knowledge" had not led me to faith, but more to unbelief.  But seeing and hearing what God had done for this child brought me to faith. 

As in Scripture, it is not about scholarship, but about stories.  And the one thing each of us has is a story.  It's that simple:  here is what God has done for me.  He has delivered me out of the power of darkness into His marvelous light.  If we do not have a story, all our theology is in vain.

Here, also, is where we connect with one another--in our stories.  Our beliefs may not coincide, but our stories connect.  And the man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.

Jesus said to the man who wanted to follow him:  Go home and tell what God has done for you.  Nothing can be more powerful than that.

Holy Shit

It is totally appropriate and good to give thanks for every working system and organ in the body, for when one system or organ begins to fail, the whole body begins to die.  A moment of real conversion for me early in life was in studying the excretory system of a frog when I was in college. 

I was alone in the lab on a Friday afternoon; the floor-to-ceiling windows opened to a gorgeous spring day in New Orleans, with a breeze blowing through the lab.  As I cut open the frog and began to trace the excretory system, I realized how perfectly the body functions to filter out non-nutrients and toxins and to store them without any thought on our part.  Finally, at the end of the process our conscious mind assumes control, and the poisons are expelled. 

At that moment, I was overcome with awe and appreciation of the intricate design of the human body, and I wanted to worship its Designer and Creator.

Often since then I have laughed at God's sense of humor in using the excretory system as a way to make me see and worship Him.  But someone has to see the beauty and design and be a voice of praise and thanksgiving for that system too, for if it fails to work as it should, the whole body fails.

Growing things

I want to be a fertile field that God has planted and tended.  The land does not determine what is planted upon it---that decision belongs to the tiller of the soil; nor does the land determine the times of growth and blossoming--that decision belongs to its creator.  The land remains obedient and quiet, hoping only to be cultivated and productive, not overrun with weeds and snakes.

Backing into the light

The Jehovah's Witnesses go to great lengths to explain away the plain sense of John 1:  The Word was with God and the Word was God.  If those words are not plain to the simple and lowly, if they were written only for Greek scholars, then they can benefit only those who are learned in Greek. But the insistence of the Witnesses actually drove me to investigate for myself what the Apostle John believed about Jesus:

Through Him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world

...though the world was made by Him, the world did not recognize Him.

No one has ever seen God, but the only (begotten) Son, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

For this reason, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him; not only was He breaking the Sabbeth, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal to God.

(and Phil.2:5):  who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross.

Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Finally, in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells Satan: "The Lord, your God, shall you worship, and Him alone shall you serve."  However, after the Resurrection, the apostles worshipped Jesus just prior to the Ascension.

I read someplace that weeds help the flower roots go deeper than they could on their own.  I suppose I have to be grateful that the Jehovah's Witnesses are out there; in their own way, they make me find things I probably would have glossed over without their help:)

Wisdom

Prayer is spirit-to-Spirit communication with God; it goes beyond the thoughts of our minds, reaching into our very souls in ways we do not always understand or even comprehend how it occurs.  If we ask for wisdom, we will neither know that we have received it nor how it comes to us.  All we know is that something has happened to us that we ourselves did not cause to happen through study or contemplation. 

Wisdom arrives quietly, as a humble servant slipping in the back door of our hearts; she sets about her task before we even realize she is there.  We begin to see where she has been at work somehow after she has already rearranged and tidied up the disorder of our minds and emotions, when peace begins to reign instead of fear and turmoil, when the mind is at ease even in the midst of horrible events, when the Spirit of Jesus Himself says, "Peace, be still" in the midst of storms. 

Wisdom instructs her children all the days of their lives, bringing order out of chaos, just as she did at the beginning of time.  To pray is to invite wisdom as a guest in one's home and to be attentive to the aura of one's guest---never rude or insistent, but gentle and quietly resting in one's soul.

One Bird Watching


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009

The Title

Last weekend, my sister introduced me to New Harmony, Indiana, a social experiment from the 1800's that has become a modern refuge of peace and beauty in today's world. While there, I stumbled across a poem posted near a lake behind the inn. The author was not named, probably because he/she wanted the poem to stand as a tribute to the Creator rather than to its creator:

Stranger

When no one listens
To the quiet trees,
When no one notices
The sun in the pool;

When no one feels
The first drop of rain,
Or sees the last star;

Or hails the first morning
Of a giant world
Where the peace begins
And rages end:

One bird sits still
Watching the work of God:
One turning leaf,
Two falling blossoms,
Ten circles upon the pond.

As we stood there reading and re-reading these stunning words, a giant blue heron with a wing span of at least 10-12 feet glided across the lake and landed about 50 feet away from us. Slowly he turned to face the water and stood quietly watching the "ten circles upon the pond," the "turning leaves," and the "falling blossoms." The moment was electric. We wondered whether the bird had been somehow trained to arrive at the precise moment of visitors reading the poem, but finally decided that the moment was truly a gift.

I wished desperately to find notecards or at least a poster with the poem and a blue heron during my visit to New Harmony, but it seems no one has taken on that mission. Were I an artist, I would set up a kiosk somewhere in town to sell my inspiration. That being somewhat impractical, though, I have decided to begin this blog as a tribute to the unknown author and to the blue heron which brought the poem to life for me.

So much of my life seems to be like that moment: watching the work of God. It is my desire to share some of my observations with others that has led to this blog. My wish is that it will do for you what the blue heron and an unknown poet has done for me.

Posted by Gayle at 11:39 AM 0 comments

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About Me

Death and Resurrection

What if death were but the beginning of resurrection, as Karl Rahner says? What if death were but the release of our own individual spirits into this universe, particularly into the spirits of those who love us? What if our presence after death continued in this world "through closed doors," as Jesus appeared after His resurrection?

Death, then, would simply be another dimension of our earthly existence. If we have been "born again," re-created in the spirit and image of God, our released spirits would continue to re-construct this world in order and harmony. If we have not been born again in the spirit and image of God, then our released spirits would continue to pour our hatred, destruction, and negative energy into this world forever.

Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces which dominate the air---powers and dominions, in his words. But we know we are surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses," souls washed clean in the blood of Christ, and that these souls (spirits) are a help to us in our earthly existence.

In life and in death, we keep company with those who are like us in spirit and in truth. Tomorrow is the Feast of All Saints, all those whose spirits are like God's and who have allowed themselves to be brought into the company of the holy ones. Tonight, the world "celebrates" those who still roam the earth seeking the ruin of souls.

Food for Soul and Body

Beets, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, corn, squash---You open your hand and provide for every living thing, O Lord! The perfect variety of food, the range of colors and textures and tastes and nutrients are a miracle of everyday life.

Not only has God provided for our health, but for our taste and our sense of beauty and variety. We marvel at what we see in the garden even before we appreciate the range of tastes and textures. The earth proclaims not only the glory of God, but His exquisite love and care for the children of men.

We see, we enjoy, and our souls are satisfied with goodness even as our bodies are nourished and our health sustained.