The Annointing of the Holy Spirit

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit....but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you....(Acts 1).

What does it mean to "be baptized with the Holy Spirit?"  What kind of "power" do we receive with the annointing of the Holy Spirit?

By pondering the words of Proverbs 2, 3, and 4, we can begin to glimpse some practical applications of being annointed with the Spirit of Jesus.  Prov. 2: 6:

For the Lord gives wisdom,

and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 

He holds victory in store for the upright,

he is a shield to those who walk is blameless,

for he guards the course of the just

and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand what is right and just

and fair---every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will protect you,

and understanding will guard you.

....for they will prolong your life many years

and bring you prosperity.

....then you will win favor and a good name

in the sight of God and man (Prov.3:4).

...this will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones (3:8).

...then your barns will be filled to overflowing,

and your vats will brim over with new wine (3:10).

[Wisdom] is a tree of life to those who embrace her;

those who lay hold of her will be blessed (3:18).

These chapters of Proverbs promise wisdom to those who seek it, and wisdom (or the annointing of the Holy Spirit, who is Wisdom) carries "in her right hand" many blessings:  prosperity, straight paths, protection, a good name, health, nourishment, longevity, riches and honor, peace, pleasant ways, a tree of life, etc.

This is the kind of power given with the annointing of the Spirit---the same kind of power Jesus Himself had on earth:  power to overcome evil, even while suffering from it; understanding of the ways of men; confidence in God as our shield and protector; freedom from worry about the future; peace for each day's tasks; the power to laugh in the face of adversity because of knowing that God cannot fail us..

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you..and so the disciples gathered together for nine days awaiting "the Gift of the Father" that Jesus had promised them.  What if when we gather together, we would be also waiting for the Promised Gift?

The First Missionary

While the Apostles of Jesus were still in training, while their spiritual minds were still being developed beyond the inclusiveness of Judaism, Jesus selected a Samaritan woman with 5 husbands to be His first missionary.  The Light of the World entered her heart, and she could not contain it.  Despite her experience of rejection by 5 husbands and by the village itself ("Something must be wrong with her to have been rejected 5 times in marriage," I can just hear them saying), this woman left behind her water jar in her haste to reach the village with "the good news:"  I have met the Messiah, and He has told me everything I have ever done! 

The very "sins" that brought her shame now unfolded to others the mystery of God's forgiveness and of making all things new again.  The sinner is now a saint--she is the one chosen to announce the Messiah to her own people.  I can imagine the villagers gathered around her to hear how she met this Man, what He said to her, etc.  Because of her, they left the village and went out to meet Jesus for themselves.  And presumably, their hearts were also set on fire--Jesus told His disciples that the harvest was ready for gathering.  Imagine that:  while the religious leaders were still in Jerusalem's Temple praying for the arrival of the Messiah, the villagers in the hills of Samaria were actually experiencing the arrival of the kingdom of God on earth---and all because of an outcast woman whose hope for a "normal" life had long ago been buried in disappointment and sorrow. 

Isaiah's vision in Chapter 41 (v. 17) is so appropriate here:

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain;

their tongues are parched with thirst.

I, the Lord, will answer them;

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will open up rivers on the bare heights,

and fountains in the broad valleys;

I will turn the desert into a marshland,

and the dry ground into springs of water.

I will plant in the desert the cedar,

acacia, myrtle, and olive;

I will set in the wasteland the cypress,

together with the plane tree and the pine,

That all may see and know,

observe and understand,

That the hand of the Lord has done this,

the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Samaritan woman was thirsty for love, for acceptance, for inclusion.  Her thirst made her jump at Jesus' offer of a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.  The minute she heard it, she knew that's what she had been thirsting for all her life---and the fountain He placed in her flowed out to all in the village.

As "missionaries," maybe we all need to be searching for those who are thirsty.

Emmanuel--God With Us

God in human history---God entering into my history---what wonderous news!

The Greeks had an inkling and a hope, with their laws of hospitality based on the hope and belief that the gods might appear in human form and show up at their door or campsite.  Not wanting to run the risk of offending the gods, they welcomed strangers and treated them as honored guests.

We, on the other hand, even though we know "all about" Jesus entering into human history 2000 years ago, can hardly bring ourselves to hope or believe that God might deign at this moment to appear at our door---to enter our history.  We struggle on in the same patterns, maybe crying out to God on High to hear us, but still do not know He is here with us, that He has heard our cry, and even now is moving on our behalf.

The child-like wonder of the creche is rapidly disappearing from our world, replaced with tinsel, shopping centers, and fake Santas.  But if we could find a quiet spot in which to gaze at the wondrous mystery of "God with us," we might begin to believe that He has indeed come into the world---into our world---and that He will never leave us or abandon us.

Lessons from the Saints

Thanks be to the Saints who gladly and joyfully accept us into their company and fellowship.  I have felt a kindred spirit with giants in the spiritual world---Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, C.S. Lewis, Karl Rahner, Edith Stein---and they do not reject or laugh at my presumption, but tutor me along the ways of the Spirit.  This shows their great humility and purity of heart, their absolute love of God, that for His sake they do not laugh at my ignorance and weakness, but encourage me to come along with them on the way to God. 

For their sake, in gratitude for their kindness to me, I will also encourage those around me on their journey.  May God forgive us our lack of patience and compassion for one another and teach us also the purity and humility of the saints.

and bearing gifts they came....

Working in the Parish Center yesterday, I saw an elderly grandmother arrive bearing the gift of shrimp for the priests.  Her son came with her, to carry the shrimp and to interpret for the priest, as his mother spoke only Vietnamese.  The family, generation after generation, were shrimpers, and they brought gifts from the work of their hands and the labor of their backs. 

The joy on her face was palpable; the beauty of her joy was unmistakable---she needed no English to convey her meaning.  It seemed to me that she was bringing her gift to Jesus Himself in the manger, with Mary and Joseph at His side.  The scene was more alive and more real than a Christmas pageant---

Peace on the earth to men of good will; Peace on the earth; good will toward men---

Either reading conveys what just happened in this one microcosm on earth.  Her face shone with peace and good will.  I once saw a photograph of a very elderly lady --in her late 80's or early 90's--whose face was radiant with joy.  The caption was If you want to steal my joy, come and get it in the hands of God.

It seems that only the very pure, the very simple---the shepherds and the shrimpers--come to the crib to worship.  But kings/astrologers/ wise men came too, bearing gifts.  This one simple Vietnamese woman combined in her person both shepherd and wise man; I am quite sure the kingdom of heaven has been given to such as these, and that they possess it even now.

Christmas Day

It is not the Jesus of history---the man who changed history---who saves us today; it is the Risen Jesus living in us today who changes our history. 

By a simple re-arrangement of molecules in the body, the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the mute speak.  We often forget that the Word of God, the Son of God, the exact image of the invisible God, has been sent to us to change our history.  In one moment, our direction is changed and we are set on a new path, the path to God.  In one moment, we are no longer "sinners" or "tax collectors" or "Pharisees," but children of the living God. 

God has sent to us a son, and the government is on His shoulder; He bears our burdens and sins and re-directs our paths.  Each day for us is Christmas Day, as the Savior comes to us.  Each day, our molecules are re-arranged, our history changes, and our life renewed.  Those sitting in darkness see a great light, and their hope is renewed.

The Gift of Knowledge

There is a kind of knowledge that is discursive---that is, it is reached by information + reasoning until we reach some conclusion.  But there is also another kind of Knowledge that comes through the Holy Spirit rather than from outside of us and rather than from our reasoning things out.  When Jesus met the woman at the well (Jn. 4), and said to her, "You have had five husbands, and the man you are now with is not your husband," that knowledge did not come from discursive knowledge, but through His communion with the Spirit of God within Him.  And since we know that Jesus "put down" His power as God to live as a human being on this earth, what was available to Him through the Spirit of God must also be available to us.

There will always be spiritual powers that mimic the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, so we can be deluded into thinking that spiritists, mediums, charletans, etc. have ESP or the gift of reading minds, or of seeing into another world, as in seances.  But the kind of knowledge given by the Holy Spirit is always for the building up and strengthening of those who love God and/or who are in need of His healing in their lives, as was the woman at the well.  The Gift of Knowledge is given to us for protection ---ie, warning us of a danger that may not be immediately obvious--or for healing, or for confidence in choosing a course of action. 

"By their fruits, you will know them."  If someone seems to "have" special knowledge of events to demonstrate their power, or to manipulate people, or to make money, there is immediate danger.  In Chapter 16 of the Acts of the Apostles, we read about a slave girl who had an "oracular spirit," who used to bring a large profit to her owners through her fortune-telling.  Paul commanded the evil spirit to come out of her, but the owners were understandably upset with Paul and Silas and had them publicly beaten with rods and then thrown into prison.

When we ourselves receive the Gift of Knowledge from the Holy Spirit, it is usually for the purpose of setting others free from some kind of bondage or evil.  Sometimes, too, we ourselves can be set free by a kind of knowledge of events that is given to us by the Spirit.  Paul tells us to "seek the greater gifts," but not to become "puffed up" or proud of what is given to us by the Spirit.  Parents, especially, need to be open to the Gift of Knowledge to know what is going on with their children.  When we find ourselves wondering, "How did I know that?" we might want to trust that God is giving us the Gift of Knowledge for some purpose and begin to pray for even more guidance from the Holy Spirit.

The Friends of God

There is a story of Teresa of Avila when she was traveling from one part of Spain to another in a rough horse-cart, over rough, muddy, washed-out roads.  At one point, in a driving rain storm, the cart overturned, and the nuns had to try to push or pull the cart out of the mud.  In frustration, Teresa asked God why He was making life so difficult for them, when they were trying to do His work.  "This is the way I treat all my friends," God reportedly told Teresa.  She shot  back at Him: "No wonder you have so few of them!"

Despite Teresa's estimation, the truth is that God has an invisible universe of His friends----they are drawn together by their love of Him, and they seem to recognize one another if their lives are truly centered on Him.  One might say they have the same Spirit that crosses all boundaries erected by doctrinal differences and cultures.

The famous Breastplate of St. Patrick could be the universal prayer of the "friends of God," no matter what church or denomination they adhere to:

I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me. God’s might to uphold me. God’s wisdom to guide me. God’s eye to see before me. God’s ear to hear me. God’s word to speak for me. God’s hand to guard me. God’s way to lie before me. God’s shield to protect me. God’s host to secure me against the snares of devils -- against temptations and vices, against inclinations of nature, against everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in a crowd …

Christ, be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me. Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me. Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit. Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me. Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me. Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Christ. May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

Listen

What if our task on earth is to receive from the hand of God the blessings He wants to give to those around us?  What keeps us from purely receiving those gifts and passing them on?

Pride, inihibition, fear, carelessness (not caring), self-centeredness, lack of dedication to the kingdom of God and to those who need us.

Around the mountain of Sinai, the people said to Moses:  "We don't want to hear to hear the Voice of God, lest we die.  You listen to God and tell us what He says, and we will listen to you."  Of course, it did not always work out the way they said it would, for it is hard to sustain the belief that God is speaking to a man who has the same weaknesses we ourselves do. 

Most of us cannot sustain the discipline of always listening to the still, small voice of God.  There was One, however, Who allowed Himself to come to the end of His own human resources, His own strength, so that He might live wholly to hear the Voice of God for others:  This is my Beloved Son; listen to Him, said the Father of Jesus, Who was always listening to the Father. 

He speaks to us the very words of God, but we still do not hear and receive Him.  To those who will listen and receive, however, He gives the power to become the children/offspring/ seed of God Himself, in spirit and in truth.

A Prayer

Forgive us our sins against one another, O Lord:

our judgments, our annoyances, our impatience, our own unforgiveness;

Open our hearts tocompassion, O Lord, to understanding, to seeing one another as You see us.

Teach us to take up daily the cross You have borne for us---the cross of our misunderstandings, our loneliness, our despair.

Teach us to bear one another's burdens without fear, without defense, without striking back.

Create open space within us, O Lord, space where Your Holy Spirit can meet and touch the human spirit and where we can be healed.

To Love as Christ Loves

Edith Stein was a German philosopher, a university professor, and a mystic who, in her search for truth, converted from Judaism to Catholicism and eventually became a Carmelite nun who lost her life in the German concentration camp of Auschwitz. 

For her, the Christ Child in the manger is the beginning of a life that requires a "radical transformation of natural attitudes."  Even in the manger, she states, he confronts the world with the division between light and darkness:  "Follow Me," He says, and anyone who is not for Him is against Him.  She explained the difference between natural love and the supernatural, brought into the world by Christ:

Natural love extends only to individuals with whom we feel united by reason of blood, character, or common interest.  The rest of the world, as far as we are concerned, is made up of "strangers," "people who don't affect us" --- in other words, people who become increasingly hard to tolerate and whom we end up keeping as much at arm's length as possible.

For the Christian, there is no such thing as a "stranger."  There is only the neighbor---the person who happens to be next to us, the person most in need of our help.  Whether he is related to us or not, whether we "like" him or not, doesn't make any difference.  Christ's love knows no boundaries, stops at no limits, doesn't turn away from ugliness and filth.  It was for sinners He came, not for the righteous.

According to Stein, "Natural love aims at possession, at owning the beloved as completely as possible.  But anyone who loves with the love of Christ must win others for God instead of himself, as Christ did when he came to restore lost humanity to the Father.  Actually, this is the one sure way to possess someone forever.  Whenever we entrust a person to God, we find ourselves united to him; whereas, sooner or later, the lust for conquest usually----no, always---ends in loss."

Ribbons of Love

Winter sky at sunrise

Given as gift

to those who see.

Beauty in souls

Rising at dawn

Given as gift

To those who see.

The hand of God

Eternally at work

in lives and life

to those who see.

This day, tomorrow, and the next:

The work of God

to those who see.

The Babe in Bethlehem

Can I believe that the Son of God would dwell in ME?

The One who was humble enough to be born in a dark, cold cave at Bethlehem, the smallest of Judah's cities to the smallest of the twelve tribes, would certainly be humble enough to dwell in the darkened caverns of my mind and soul.

The One humble enough to live a life hidden in the backwater town of Nazareth for 30 years as a carpenter is certainly humble enough to rmain hidden in me, constructing all the while a dwelling place fit for God Himself.

The One who made Himself a Friend to sinners and a Healer of lepers and outcasts would certainly be humble and gracious enough to heal my leprous and encrusted soul and to make it shine with the glory for which God created it.

The One who welcomed little children into His arms would certainly hide my ignorance and weakness in the arms of His strength and His truth.

He is; I am not----Is this not why He came into the world?

Purity of Heart 2

Purity of heart is to desire one thing (Kirkegaard).

What is the "one thing" we desire above all else?  Asking this question allows us to see how cluttered our lives have become, how "impure" we are.  If we analyze where we spend most of our time, energy, emotion, preoccupation, judgment, blame, and resentment, we soon see the places where we are stuck, areas where we are not free to pursue the one thing we most desire.

Capturing all of the sun's rays into the single focus of a magnifying glass allows us to ignite the spark of a great fire.  Channeling all of our multiple energies into purity of heart---into one desire---does the same.  Suddenly, everything we do is focused and intentional: preparing a highway in our lives for the arrival of Jesus Christ, Who bears within His own Person the kingdom of God, the peace that passes all understanding, and joy without shadow.  

Purity of heart allows us to "travel lightly," to be unencumbered by the opinions and demands of others if those demands do not fit into the "one thing" necessary for our lives.  It allows us the freedom not to worry about the outcome of our efforts, if our work is directed to the thing most important to us. 

Abraham found that leaving his father's house and his culture meant choosing the one thing necessary for him--to keep following the Yahweh Who called him "to a land I will show you."  He could not know ahead of time where that would be, nor how he would get there, nor when he would arrive.  Nor did he know ahead of time how he would sustain himself in a strange land, as an outsider.  The one thing necessary for him was to trust the God Who had spoken to him, to believe that God would not abandon or fail him, though he himself might fail along the way.

Abraham's purity of heart and trust in Yahweh allowed him to give his nephew Lot first choice of where to live in the land.  Lot chose the fertile plain near the Jordan River, leaving Abraham the more remote and drier regions without water.  However, rather than resent Lot's choice, Abraham went on his way, knowing that God would provide what he needed.

Everything in Abraham's life took second place to adhering to the Voice of God as it spoke to him.  Because of his purity of heart, he is known as the father of those who trust God.

Humility and Space/Grace

Reading Crossing the Desert by Robert J. Wicks, I came across this anonymous poem:

I had a dream that death

Came the other night,

And Heaven's gate swung wide open.

With kindly grace

An angel ushered me inside;

Adn there to my astonishment

Stood folks I had known on earth

And some I had judged

And labeled unfit and of little worth.

Indignant words rose to my lips,

But were never set free;

for every face showed stunned surprise,

Not one expected me.

Wicks includes the poem in his chapter on humility, which is a knowledge of ourselves that is transformed into wisdom.  Humility, he says, leads us to open new space within ourselves where we and others can experience true freedom and love.  Again, he tells the story of a Desert Father, a monk, to whom the Devil appeared in the guise of an angel.  The Devil said, "I am the angel Gabriel and I have been sent to you."  The Desert Father replied, "See if you are not being sent to someone else.  I certainly do not deserve to have an angel sent to me."  Immediately, the Devil disappeared.

I love Wick's idea that humility opens space in our lives:

• space for simplicity
• space for solitude
• space for pacing ourselves
• space for gratefulness and giftedness
• space for honesty and clarity
• space for real relationships
• space for restraint
• space for doubt and deeper questions
• space for reflection
• space for generosity
• space for transparency
• space for forgiveness
• space for truth
• space for courage

There is more, but you'll have to read the book for yourself.....although I may include a bit more tomorrow.

Energy Now and Forever!

Energy of stars,
of sunlight glistening on water,
the waves of the sea,
the breath of life,
of matter and anti-matter:
                                                 Energy of God

Energy of Truth,
Energy of Beauty,
Energy of Love:                       Energy of God

Friendship with God 2

It is imperative that each one of us cultivate friendship with God: 

Some friends bring ruin on us, but a true friend is more loyal than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

God Himself will "fix" our situations if we only allow Him the freedom to do so.  We have chained the Holy Spirit so that He is not free in our lives to do what He wills in us and for us.  But as we give Him freedom and permission to act in us, He also unbinds us from our chains of ignorance, stupidity, blindness and hard-heartedness. 

We must allow the Holy Spirit freedom to pray in us and for us, for we ourselves hardly know how to pray.  But He prays for us with greater love and friendship than we have for ourselves, much less for others.  He is TRUTH, and of His own essence, He pours out into our hearts and minds.  He leads us into all truth, leaving behind the falsehoods we have told ourselves and others.  As one unties difficult knots, so the Holy Spirit gradually frees our souls from from the chains of darkness, fear, and evil.  To be friends with God is to be free at last!

Jesus said, "If you knew the Gift of God (by which He meant the Gift of the Holy Spirit), and who it is that speaks with you, you would ask Him, and He would give you a fountain of living water springing up to eternal life."  Let us ask for the Gift of Friendship with God, for He can never fail or disappoint us in this life or in the next.

What Are We Waiting For?

Every year, the Catholic Church celebrates Advent as a time of waiting for the Savior of the world.  As a child, I never "got" this:  why were we playing this  game of pretense, when we knew the Savior had already come?  I knew we were supposed to be "re-living" the 4000 years of Jewish history, of waiting for the Messiah, but I just could not get into that---in my mind, we were no longer waiting, yearning, hungering to be saved.  The cave of Bethlehem was an obvious reminded that Jesus had already arrived!

Now that I can better see the world around me and the world within me, I know for sure that Jesus has not  yet come into all the dark, evil, cruel, empty, hollow spaces that man creates for himself and for others.  People I know are still hungering for peace, for joy, for fulfillment; there are dark spaces in my own soul that need to be filled with the Light of the world.  There are countries where the entire population is desperate for the freedom of the Savior, countries where cruel leaders and cultures are keeping people chained and enslaved, where women cannot be educated, where children are kidnapped and forced to serve as terrorists and assassins.  There are countries where children die of starvation and from cruelty; there are homes where fathers still beat their children and wives.  In our own country, teens are routinely introduced to gangs and drugs, completely cutting off the possibility of any future but death or prison for them. 

Has the Savior of the world truly come?  Has the Light of the world reached into all the dark places where evil, neglect, and ignorance rule?  Has each one of us experienced "Peace on the earth, good will to men?"  Has the Babe of Bethlehem truly been born in all of our hearts? 

Today, I celebrate Advent with every fiber of my being---it no longer seems a game we play, but a hunger, a yearning, a waiting for the kingdom of heaven, the reign of God:  Come, Lord Jesus into each heart, into each home, into each nation, until the whole world knows the Savior, until his rule, as Isaiah says, extends from sea to sea, and the whole world knows the coming of the Lord!

Will the world end tomorrow?

What if we knew for sure that the world would end in 2012, as people fear the Mayan calendar tells us?  Martin Luther said in the 16th century, "Even if I knew for sure the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree today." 

I think he had it exactly right.  Even if we knew....which we don't....we need to "be about our Father's business" today, finishing the work at hand.  The Book of Ecclesiates says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your heart." 

That is the only way we continue to have joy and gladness---not worrying about the future, or even tomorrow, but gladly embracing today with all of its tasks and joys and challenges.  If we are studying today, then let us study well and long.  If we are creating a scene of beauty today, then let us continue to create to satisfy the beauty of our souls.  If we are busy saving the world today, it is still worth saving today, even if it ends tomorrow.

I guess then the question becomes, "What are we doing today?" rather than "Will the world end tomorrow?"

Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him (John 14:21).

Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him (14:23).

On that day, you will realize that I am in the Father and you are in me and I in you (14:20)

People who hear God speaking within them are often called "mystics," as if it were some strange phenomenon to communicate with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  But Jesus was not the sort of guy to blow smoke and talk nonsense.  If he said He (and the Father and the Spirit) would come and make their dwelling in us and reveal truth to us, then this should not be a "mystical" but a "normal" part of the Christian life.

We are as sceptical as were the Pharisees that God would deign to be with us and speak with us throughout our whole lives, so even when it seems that God might be directing us, we don't want to believe it.  Here is what Teresa of Avila says about God dwelling within us:

Here all three Persons communicate themselves to it (the soul), speak to it, and explain those words of the Lord in the Gospel: that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit will come to dwell with the soul that loves Him and keeps His commandments.

Oh, God help me!  How different is hearing and believing these words from understanding their truth in this way!  Each day this soul becomes more amazed, for these Persons never seem to leave it any more, but it clearly beholds, in the way that was mentioned, that they are within it.  In the extreme interior, in some place very deep within itself, the nature of which it doesn't know how to explain, because of a lack of learning, it perceives this divine company.

I wonder if we could turn inwards often enough to perceive the indwelling Presence of God within us.  I wonder if we could seek His explanation of the things we need to know.  I wonder if we could seek His direction for our next step in life.  I wonder.....if this would not be, as Watchman Nee called it, "the normal Christian life."

Who are the blind and the deaf and the poor?

I love my young students so much that I often wish I could just open them up and pour life-giving strength and spirit into each one of them.  I'm sure this is how Jesus felt about us while He walked the earth, and continues to this day to feel about us.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way--we ourselves have to reach out for the strength and spirit of God, but most of us are not willing to do that until we experience our own weakness and fear and inability to manage our lives.  Then, out of the darkness, we cry for help.

Fortunately, Scripture tells us that "God hears the cry of the poor, and those bowed down in spirit He saves."  Years ago, I read a book by Watchman Nee, a man who spent the last 25 years of his life in a Chinese prison for preaching the Gospel.  His books written from that prison cell are among the most beautiful I have ever read.  In A Normal Christian Life, Nee writes the story of a group of young monks swimming in a deep river.  On the shore is an older monk who is a strong swimmer.  As he watches, one of the young men begins to drown and calls for help.  The older monk on shore does not immediately go to the rescue of the young man, and someone questions why.  The older monk replies, "I must wait until he stops trying to save himself, because he would pull both of us under.  When he stops struggling, I can pull him safely to shore." 

Nee says that's the way it is with us and God.  When we finally come to the realization that we are powerless to save ourselves, we are open to God's action in our lives.  As long as we think there might be some hope to save ourselves by our own efforts, He has to let us continue to drown.  We must finally "give up" and let Him do His work in our lives.  Then we cannot pat ourselves on the back, thinking that we finally succeeded in our efforts.  We are all poor and lonely, all weak and ineffectual, all blind and deaf and in need of having our eyes and ears opened. 

Some people like to say that God helps those who help themselves.  I like to say that God helps those who cannot help themselves.  Isaiah says, "Let the poor man say, 'I am rich,' and the rich man say, 'I am poor.'"  Lots to think about there.

Letting the Light Within Shine Forth

Children have within them the light of grace and purity.  That is why evil/Satan aims to claim their souls before they are strong---to introduce fear, or scars, or horror---all of which prevent their inner radiance from transforming the world around them.

If we could only remove the debris blocking our own inner radiance, we too would transform the world around us.  Transparency before God allows us to reflect His beauty, as a crystal reflects the light of the sun, no matter which way it turns.  There must be within us no shadow or darkness that the Son/sun cannot penetrate or overcome with His radiance and penetrating love.

The Son/sun must find our core, our essence, set the wick aflame, and put us on a lampstand to give light to all in the house.  Jesus told the disciples, "You are already clean because of the Word spoken in you."  And Peter later was to write, "He has cleansed us by the washing with water of the Word."

Hebrews 4:12 says, "The word of God is living and active, separating the soul from the spirit....and discerning the thoughts of the mind and the heart."  It is the Word of God going through us that divides the thoughts of our minds from what the Spirit would teach us, that purifies us at the core.  But the Word cannot simply be "read;" it must be "muttered."

Psalm 1 reads this way:

Blessed is the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked,

nor go the way of sinners,

nor sit in the company of scoffers.

Rather the law of the Lord is his delight;

He meditates on the law of the Lord day and night.

He is like a tree planted near streams of water,

that yields its fruit in due season;

its leaves never wither;

whatever he does prospers.

Now, to the Jews, the phrase "the law of the Lord" refers to the instruction, or teaching, or "Word" of the Lord, not simply to "law," as we understand it.  And the word translated "meditates" really means "mutters" in Hebrew.  Since "mutter" has a slightly unbalanced implication in English, most translaters will go with "meditate," which sounds more "holy." 

But it is the "muttering" of Scripture that will transform us, get rid of the debris, and allow the radiance of God to penetrate the darkness of our minds and hearts.  We don't always say what we believe, but we always believe what we say---

so we need to allow the word of God to wash us, cleanse us, heal us from fear, darkness, terror---whatever has blocked the radiance of our "child's soul" from shining into the world.  We need to mutter the word of God until it divides the thoughts of our minds from our spirits, until it becomes for us a powerful, two-edged sword. 

I almost always wear a bracelet with the inscription:  God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress (Ps. 46:1).  Wearing the bracelet helps me to say the Scripture over and over until it penetrates my heart, overcoming the thoughts and fears of my mind, until I truly believe and rely upon that Word to transform me in all circumstances.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it (John 1:5).  If we could only allow that Light to penetrate through the layers of fear, evil, and scum that have tried to cover it since our birth!!!!

God is He Who Acts in our lives

If we are still in the morning and open our lives to the influence of God, we will begin to find that He gently re-orders our priorities and tasks for the day ahead.  Chaos ensues when we let the external demands of our lives rule us.  But God is not subject to events or to domineering and controlling personalities or events.  He has His own agenda and timetable.

When we place our tasks before Him and become silent, we open ourselves to His peace, His agenda, His timetable and let go of the demands that other people and our passions want to impose upon us. 

Assurance comes from inner, not outer, direction.  God wants to write His thoughts as a permanent record on our hearts; His is a living word written on living hearts.  Until that happpens, the Bible remains to us a closed book, inpenetrable, nonsense. 

God has written many stories of His action into all of our lives---as we allow these living stories to transform us, we become a living word written in Spirit and Truth.  The process requires a letting go of what we "think," and an entering into an unknown, but gradually revealed path, as did Abraham when he left his father's house and culture and embarked on a journey to a "land I will show you."

Can we trust God to act in our own lives----or do we feel we have to be in control?  Prayer, openness, letting go---or constantly responding to pressure?
Jesus said that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.  Faith is the firm knowledge that God will act if He allow Him to do so.

Silence

True silence is relying on God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves--"my help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth."

So much of the noise in our heads comes from a lack of trust in God.  In Sr. Faustina's Diary, she says over and over to herself, "Silence."  What she is saying is, "Let it go;" "Rest;" "Trust;" "Do not defend yourself, even in your own thoughts, but hand it over to God."

Do not be afraid;

Do not worry;

Do not seek revenge---

All ways of saying "Peace," "Be Still," "Be silent"---

and let Him be God (on your behalf).

So even singing, thanksgiving, and praise can be forms of "silence," in that they are replacing our worry-thoughts, our fears, our anxieties with a resting and trusting heart.



Thanksgiving

We often read that our founding fathers were "Deists," meaning that they believed in God but that they did not believe that God "meddled" in the affairs of mankind.  However, when we read the words of the 1777 proclamation by the Continental Congress, which established our first Thanksgiving Day, we get a different picture altogether of what they believed.  Every line of this original document proclaims faith in a God who is immediately and directly involved in man's activity:

....that it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole:  To inspire our Commanders, both by land and sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE:

That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase:

To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue, and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost."

Reading this document has made me think that we need to have school children read the original words of our founding fathers, rather than the opinions of text-book writers who tell us what the founders believed.  Then we could form our own opinions.  I wonder how many of our present leaders would subscribe to the words of this document and ask God to "prosper the means of Religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

If anyone thirst.....

Realizing the Holy Spirit is a Person, not a force or an energy, is the first step in welcoming Him into our lives.  Just like the rest of us, He will not come where He is not welcome, but once we make it clear that we want Him, He is eager to enter.  I once heard someone say that he had taken the Holy Spirit as the Senior Partner in the enterprise of his life and that he consulted the Spirit each morning on the day's activities.  What a wonderful concept!!! 

Paul says that if we are born of the Spirit, we should be led by the Spirit.  Here is the spiritual life in its simplest terms---to receive the Gift of God each morning to the point of overflowing strength, to let it spill over into the people you meet each day, to be hungry for more of the infinite Person who gives, and yet to be eternally satisfied with what He gives.

If God "so loved the world that He gave....," should not that same love enter us on a daily basis?  Knowing that we have the same spring of water in us helps us in our weakness:  we do not have to give of our own meager resources, but only from what we receive from the Spirit of God dwelling within us. One of the earliest Scripture passages I remember learning was this one, although I can no longer find the reference:

With joy, you will draw water from the well of salvation.

Many years ago, a dear friend prayed that God would give me joy.  How He has answered her prayer in the Gift of the Holy Spirit!  At first, I worried that somehow I would lose interest in the Gift and move on the other interests in my life, thus losing the energy, the peace, the joy that comes with knowing the Presence of God.  However, my doctor, who first prayed for me to receive the Spirit, told me this:  You don't have the Holy Spirit; He now has you, and He will not let go, even if you walk away from Him.

Now, 30 years later, I can testify to the total accuracy of that statement---the Holy Spirit has remained faithful to me even when I did not remain faithful to Him: He has never let me go or given up on me.  Jesus told the woman at the well, "If you knew the Gift of God, and the One speaking with you, you would ask of Him, and He would give you water springing up to eternal life."

Let none of us hesitate to ask for that living water that He promised to give....the Gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Maturing

Maturing is the process of getting to know our inner self, the core of who we really are.  When we find our true selves, our very center, we find God.  Sometimes, it is a process of wandering away from our center, of making mistakes, and then of discovering what effect the mistakes have on us.  If we do not defend the wrong choice, but admit that it was wrong, we can find our way back to "true north," or to our central truth.

In a recent speech, the Pope said that those who meditate cleanse themselves of sin---how true!  To meditate is to spend time with ourselves, to allow all the things we have stuffed down deep in ourselves to emerge for observation.  We give God permission to bring to the surface the things we might have been reluctant to face about ourselves---but when He brings those things to the surface, it is not to condemn, but to heal, us.  Jesus told Peter that if he (Peter) did not allow Jesus to wash his feet, he (Peter) would have nothing to do with Jesus.  Peter's reply, "Well, then, Lord, not only my feet, but my head, hands, whole body."  You gotta love Peter! 

God allowed Peter to face the truth that he was the greatest sinner of all time---he betrayed the love and friendship and trust of Jesus Himself.  But now, having faced the truth about himself, Peter was ready to hold out his hand to every other sinner, knowing that no one else would ever match Peter's own weakness in time of temptation and trial.  Now he was eminently qualified to lead the church, knowing that Christ, not Peter, was its head.

Sometimes our greatest wrong choices lead us to the greatest strengths.

The Gift of Love

All the years I was working, I kept the following poem tacked to the bulletin board above my desk.  I don't recall the book I was reading when I stumbled across the poem, nor the source of the quotation, but here it is:

The Gift of Love

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your own heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

We read in Genesis that on the seventh day, "God rested from the work He had done."  It is clear from observation that God worked with love to construct the universe, even as His very own Son was to dwell therein.  John tells us that everything was made in Him and for Him, and nothing that has been made was made without Him.    The world and all that is in it was made for God's beloved, and that is what we are---His beloved. 

Should we not see everything around us as a work of love?



Have no anxiety....

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.  Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, ...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Phil.4:6-8).

Wouldn't it be lovely, to quote Eliza Doolittle, if our time of prayer consisted entirely of the substance above?  Even better, what if the substance of our lives consisted in referring all things to God, with thanksgiving.....in dwelling on those things that are honorable, just, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise?

I can see how this simple practice would produce peace in our hearts and minds.  If we are not concerned with what our neighbors are thinking and doing; if we are not consumed with worry about things we cannot control; if we are not striving to look good in the eyes of the world around us---we are free to rejoice, to play, to pray.

Jesus said, "Do not worry, little flock; it has pleased the Father to give you the kingdom."  And Paul:  "...if He has given us His very own Son, will He not give us all else besides?"

I wonder if we have the courage to believe, to live, these words.

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant!

Most of us imagine, if we think about it at all, that God somehow plomped us down here on earth and stands back watching to see what we will do with the time and talents He gave us.  If we do well, then we will have our reward in heaven; if we do not use our time and talents well, there is another "reward" awaiting us.

That is not the way I see it.  I think God created magnificent instruments of His love, creativity, and talent, and rather than "watching" to see how we perform, He is waiting to make use of His instruments---with our permission and cooperation.  A musical instrument is nothing without the musician; it simply lies in a corner or in a case awaiting the Master's hand.  An axe, a sewing machine, a paintbrush---all useless without the mind and strength of man. 

Even though we live and breathe and walk "on our own," so to speak, none of us have the slightest idea of what direction we need to walk in, or who we need to talk to, or what we should be doing without the guidance of God.  He has a magnificent plan for us, and He made us to fulfill that plan---but not without the breath of His Spirit in us. 

Let the instruments of God make themselves daily available to His creative action through them; let His will be done in their lives----it is a good, holy, and perfect will----and they will find themselves doing the most wonderful and unexpected deeds!  Our "reward" is our present life; we need not await another.

Ubi Caritas, Deus Est

Where there is love, there is God

What is love, in the sense above?  It is not affection, or storge in the Greek.  Neither is it philia, brotherly or familial love.  And it is not eros, or sexual love.  All of these loves make our lives rich and joyful when they are present.  And, indeed, God does inhabit all of these loves to bind us closer together with one another.  But taken alone, without agape, God's own love, the first three are not enough to hold us together in the face of storms and conflicts. 

When the Christ was born, the angels sang, "Peace on the earth, good will to man."  An alternate reading is "Peace on the earth to men of good will."  Either reading emphasizes the nature of agape---good will.

Although "good will" sounds to our ears to be somewhat weaker than affection, brotherly love, and eros, in fact, "good will," or agape is the strongest of all loves.  It does not depend on being attracted to someone, or being comfortable and familiar with another person, or on being one of the other person's "posse" or "tribe" or family.  Good will toward another is not affected by the other person's behavior; it is more like the scent of violets or mint:  when stepped upon and crushed, violets and mint release the most wonderful scents.  In the same way, those who have in them agape, or God's love, continue to have good will towards those who injure them.  That is, they do not wish harm to the other person, but continue to hope that God will favor and bless the person who did them harm.

Even while hurting from the blows of another, agape is patient and long-suffering; it blesses and does not curse; it still hopes for the best, and believes that conversion is possible for the other person.  It prays for those who persecute it and sincerely hopes that God will hear. 

Forgiveness does not mean not hurting; it means to put no obstacle to God's blessing on the other person.  Surely that is what Jesus meant by the seed falling into the ground and dying, and bearing much fruit.  Even while I feel like I am being stabbed to death by another, I continue to bless: possible only by the Presence of the Christ within us.

Centering Prayer

So many things we encounter each day pull us away from our center; we gradually dis-integrate as we attempt to respond to the magnetic pull of work, other people, entertainment, etc.  Soon, it is hard to know "where we are" any more; we seem to be in so many pieces, so fragmented.

Finding a way to pray is a process of re-connecting with our true center.  Prayer re-integrates and pulls together all in us that is scattered and pulling apart from our center.  We can emerge from our times of prayer with a response to the world that comes from a place of peace, joy, energy, goodness, wholeness, and truth---in short, from God.

In the Bible, Satan is called "The Accuser," and that is what he is indeed.  If we do pray, we feel we have not prayed long enough, or well enough, or consistently enough.  In short, we feel that we have "failed" at prayer.  But the person who momentarily looks up at the sky and marvels does not feel that he/she has failed to marvel well enough, or long enough, or consistently enough.  That one moment has refreshed his mind, body, and spirit, and he goes on his way rejoicing that he was graced in that moment with a new sense of peace, joy, energy, goodness, wholeness, and truth.

Prayer is defined as "lifting the mind and heart to God."  How long does it take to do that?  And how "ready" do we have to be to do that?  If we but glance at the sky one time during the day, we have our immediate reward.  Looking at the face of God is all the prayer we need, and it can be done in the midst of a meeting, on our drive home from work, or even while trying to solve a problem.  And then.....

Born from Above

When the Spirit of God enters our lives, He brings with Him great gifts---gifts which transform us from children of the earth to those born from above.

If we are born of the Spirit, we walk not in darkness but in the light of truth;

If we are born of the Spirit, we walk not in hatred of others but in the love God bears for each of His own children.

If we are born of the Spirit, we are not deceived by what the world promises us, but know the riches of God's love.

Jesus told Nicodemus (John 3) that unless we were born of the Spirit, we would not even be able to see the kingdom of God.  When the Spirit comes, our eyes are opened and we begin to see the kingdom all around us, everywhere.  Suddenly, like someone who is falling in love, we see the world God made, as well as the one He is still making.  We can say with Louie Armstrong, "What a wonderful world!" and the negativity all around us falls away before the power of God.  What have we to fear if we know the protection of God in our lives?  Nothing can hurt us, except for His purposes.

I have often thought that when Jesus was talking with Nicodemus, He was not "expounding" some abstract principle, but actually explaining to Nicodemus what was happening to him at the moment.  I believe that Nicodemus was being "born again" even as he spoke with Jesus, Who was telling him that he could not tell where the wind/spirit was coming from or where it was going, but could know it only by its effects. 

Would that all of us could experience what Nicodemus must have been feeling at that moment---the rush of the spirit moving in our hearts and minds and bodies!

Home is where God is

There is in each life an infinite hunger that nothing can satisfy but God Himself.  We hardly know what makes us restless, what it is we are searching for---until it finds us:  the love of God given to us in Christ Jesus.

When He finds us and fills us, the aura around us invites others in.  Until He finds us and fills us, the aura around us is filled with our hunger and sends others away.

To Those I Teach

What is it I want for you?  Why do I teach?

I want you to develop a personal relationship with God that will always get better and never end.

I want you to experience His love and what it means in your own life.

I want you to grow in all the ways that will make you more like God, that will make you a fit instrument for good in this world.

I want you to walk with God's strength/spirit/energy in you so that you can push back and overcome the darkness of this world.

I want you to be whole in mind, body, and soul.  I want your life to be a blessing on this earth.

As John the Evangelist said in his first letter, "I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in the truth."

The Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth....

The devil himself "believes in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth," so what does it mean when we say the Credo?

Do we believe that this God, this Father, this Creator is our God, our Father, our Creator?  Do we believe---and trust---in our relationship with Him, in His action in our lives, in His power and creativity on our behalf? 

The Old Testament, and even the Gospels, are primarily stories of God Who acts in history on the behalf of saints and of sinners.  The primary and irreducible assumption of Biblical theology is that history is the revelation of God (taken from God Who Acts, by G. Ernest Wright (p. 50).  Much of the Old Testament, and St. Paul's letters in the New, are reflection and interpretation of what God did, of the way He intervened in the affairs of mankind. 

We have the story of the Exodus, where God frees the Israelites from a life of slavery and oppression.  Why?  Not because they were "special," because the leaders and prophets constantly pointed to their faithlessness and rebellion, but because God had a plan and a purpose for the weakest of all nations. 

In the New Testament, we have the story of God's intervention in history once again, in the person and life of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Gospels tell us the story; John and Paul give us the theology---the reflection on what the story means.

In our own lives, there are many stories of God's action on our behalf---drawing us out of darkness, of sin, of slavery to things stronger than we are.  There are stories of redemption, of protection, of enlightenment.  But we don't remember and recall our stories with a sense of profound gratitude; we chalk them up to "the past," not to the God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth acting on our behalf.  What does it mean that we were saved out of some of the situations that threatened our lives, our safety, our sanity?  This is "theological reflection" and prayer.  Remembering what God has done for us is the basis of our hope for the future---as David said when facing Goliath:  The same God who delivered me from the lion's mouth will deliver me from this Philistine.

Our faith rests on our rememberance of what God has already done for us.  Our stories are important, but rarely shared.  When we fail to tell our stories, our history, we risk forgetting what God has done for us and our faith falters. 

Psalm 109 is a graphic picture of what happens when we forget what God has done for us; Ps. 136 is a hymn of praise recalling all the times and events where God was at work in human history:  I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth---because He has done great things for me!

And God saw that it was good.....

The Genesis account of Creation is so interesting because it is gradual and unfolding.  Presumably, the Biblical writer could have had the Almighty speak the entire universe into existence at one moment in time.  Science now gives us a glimpse into one "big-Bang" moment, with a gradual unfolding of life in successive stages, very much as Genesis reveals.

God's creation of each one of us is continuous and unfolding, not all-at-once.  While we are still sleeping and unaware of what He is about, He is quietly sending light into our souls, light which still alternates with periods of darkness.  He is slowly fashioning the world within us into a place of order, harmony, and beauty, a place wherein He Himself plans to stroll in the cool of the evening, when our work is done and we are receptive to His presence in us. 

We cannot imagine the world God is creating within us, even while we are busy "tending the gardens" of this earth.  Much less could we fashion that world for ourselves.  But the result of each step along the way is, "And God saw that it was good."  Looking back from whence we came, we also marvel at what He has done in us and see that it is good.

on Greek icons and truth

In the age before almost universal literacy, most people had to read images rather than books. Thus, we get stained glass windows and Greek icons to illustrate spiritual truths.  While stained glass windows reveal the mysteries of faith, Greek icons in our culture are a bit harder to read.  One of the classic icons portrays the Christ holding a closed---or in some cases, an open----book.  The message behind both icons is the same:  only Jesus can open the book to us. 

The Bible remains a closed book, even to Christians, until the Holy Spirit opens it to us.  We may try to read it, and may even find sections that we think are inspirational or beautiful, but the book itself does not become a "living" word until it becomes, as Peter says, "God-breathed."  Now "breath," or "breeze," or "wind" are all permissable translations of the Hebrew ruah, the word also translated as "spirit" or "Spirit." 

In the beginning, the ruah of God hovered over the abyss, the unformed chaos that was to become the universe at the Word of God.  In the opening scene of Genesis, we find the Creator of Heaven and Earth and the hovering ruah, or Spirit.  When the Word goes forth, there is Light, and the Light pushes back the darkness.

That same eternal movement continues to this day:  the Spirit/ Breath of God hovers over the darkness of our minds, and the Creator sends forth His Living Word---LIGHT, BE!  And the Light of the World enters into our own darkness. 

Jesus said over and over, "I am the Light of the World."  He promised to us His own Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and Revelation.  That is the Spirit that enlightened Paul on his way to Damascus to persecute the early Christians; that is the Spirit of Truth that illumined the scriptures Paul had known from childhood.  Later, he was to write that "until this day, a veil covers their eyes when the scriptures are read because only in Christ Jesus is the veil removed" (2 Cor. 3:14) and "Now, the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it" (I Cor. 2:14).

Buddha taught "enlightenment" as the goal of life, but the enlightenment he sought came only through denial and self-discipline, shutting out all the senses and going deep within oneself.  Unlike the Buddha, Jesus does not ask us to go deep within ourselves, an inaccessible path to most of us, but instead He promised to send us the Holy Spirit, a universal offer to those who trust Him.  He Himself will send the Spirit; He Himself will open to us the scriptures.  He told the Pharisees, "You search the scriptures because you think you have eternal life through them, and they testify to me.  But you do not want to come to Me to have life" (John 5:39).

The Greek icon is clear to those who can "read" it; we must come to Christ to understand Scripture.  Just as the disciples came to Jesus after He told a parable to the crowds, just as they asked Him to explain the parable, so we too must come to Jesus with the scriptures, asking for illumination.  When He begins to enlighten and teach us, the darkness is pushed back, the book is opened, and our minds and spirits are enlightened. 

Jesus promised the Gift of the Breath/ ruah of God to all who would ask---see Luke 11 and Matthew 7.  I wonder sometimes why it takes us so long to ask for this wonderful Gift:  Send forth your spirit, and we shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. 

The next time we pick up the Bible, let us ask the Spirit of the living Christ to "hover" over us, to teach us, to enlighten us.  Then, let us follow His lead as we open the Scriptures.  The adventure will lead us to secrets we can hardly guess at.

What is "Freedom?"

Of all the things Thomas Jefferson accomplished, he was most proud of establishing the University of Virginia, for he maintained that democracy--his baby, so to speak--could not survive without an educated people.  Freedom without education, and without conscience, is chaos.  As Scripture says, "every man does what is right in his own eyes"   --- but without "do unto others what you would have them do unto you," our society cannot survive. 

One of the gifts that education brings is contact with many other ways of seeing and thinking; it brings tolerance and understanding and conversation.  In the more radical sects of Islam, we see an attempt to control society by restricting education so that people cannot expand their understanding, but can only obey repression and control.  In democracy, we have more freedom, but less order, as everyone tries to outshout the other and gain control.

In any society, it is necessary that men be governed by some rule, not by forced control and imposition of harsh punishment, but by recognition of God, by freedom of worship, and by conscience.  A "free" society that disregards God will destroy itself, as Sodom and Gomorrah shows.  No one is safe when bullies are allowed to prey on the innocent and control society.  The alternative is not radical Islam with its enforced order, but prayer and education so that people are free in mind, body, and spirit.

Poustinikki

In her book Poustinia, Catherine de Hueck Dougherty says that in Russia, a "poustinik" is one who takes up residence in a small house at the edge of the village.  His door is latched against the wind, but never locked.  He is there for the village, for whatever they might need.  If someone needs a cup of tea and some prayer, the door is open; if one needs bread, the poustinik shares whatever he has; if the local farmer needs his crops gathered in before the rains come, the poustinik goes into the fields until the work is done. 

What a wonderful concept; I believe in some ways, that is also the tradition of country life in America.  All the neighbors are "there" for the others.  They share the same life, the same joys, the same troubles.  In our urban areas, the workplace has become the center of life for most of us, who barely know our neighbors.  But now and then.....

When my beloved dog Ginger died the year before Katrina, one of my neighbors left a beautiful bouquet of Astrolmeria on my doorstep, with a note of condolence.  What a thoughtful thing to do!  She was aware of my grief, and shared in it.  When I had surgery recently, friends came from far away to prepare dozens of meals to freeze for future weeks, and friends from church came from nearby with hot casseroles, soup, and complete dinners. 

Though it is hard for families with young children to do more than survive from day to day, our country now has millions of "baby boomers" who are retiring.  What a wonderful concept it would be if all of us in that category saw the opportunity to "sit at the edge of the village" to be of service to our neighbors. 

Listening

Journaling is a way of listening to our inner selves---the place where God dwells.  To listen to what we are saying in our deepest part is to discover God.  When I first began to learn to pray, there came a moment when I said, "My 'me' is You!"  At my very core, I found the presence of God.

It is hard for most of us to be still enough long enough to find God within.  That's why Julia Cameron in her book The Artist's Way recommends what she calls "morning pages"---three pages a day of free - writing whatever is on one's mind, whether it makes sense or nonsense.  By peeling off the top layers of our spirits, we find what is lying beneath, and there we find the creativity that is God's Spirit within us expressing beauty through us.

The Spirit of God holds all things in balance and harmony, distilling eternal truth to all who will reach for it, guiding us into the way of peace.  But until we are ready to listen, we cannot get there.  In the 8th chapter of Romans, Paul says, "The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we ourselves do not even know how to pray, but the Spirit pleads for us with unutterable groanings."  Sometimes, we catch a glimpse of the groanings within us through writing.

The Gift of Eternal Life

Nowhere in the Old Testament can we find a reference to "eternal life," but the New Testament is brimming with the phrase.  Three of the Gospels tell of a man who comes to Jesus and says, "Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 

At what point did the phrase come into use?  Had Jesus already spoken of "eternal life," or had the Jews come to a concept of eternal life on their own?  In the first three Gospels, Jesus tells the rich young man, who had kept the commandments all his life, that one thing more was necessary---to sell what he had, give to the poor, and come follow Him.  Obviously, the man had not found "life" in his possessions, or he would not have been asking about 'eternal life.'

In the Gospel of John (Chapter 17), Jesus says, "Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ."  And He said that He would give eternal life to all who the Father gave to Him.  Here, He does not speak about selling everything and giving to the poor, but only about receiving the gift He gave.  Later in Chapter 17, the night before He died, Jesus said, "I have given them Your Name, the Name that was with me from the beginning."  To know God's name is to know Him, and thus to have eternal life.

If only we knew that it is not religion but relationship that is the key to eternal life.  That God would want us to know Him is amazing.  That He would reveal to us His inmost thoughts, that He would teach us to love what He loves is miraculous.

God will reveal Himself to all who seek Him.  To cry out to Him, to ask to know Him, is to begin receiving eternal life.  He is more eager to know us, to have fellowship with us, than we are with Him.  And even in this life, we begin to taste eternal life, life that nothing can destroy.  And that life comes to us in His Son, who reveals to us His Father's Name:  ABBA!

The Power of God

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power (I Cor. 4:20)

Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you (Acts 1:8).

When the New Testament refers to "power," it uses the Greek word dunomis, the root of our English "dynamite."  Unlike the "power" of those who lord it over others, this power is the power to overcome ourselves---power to overcome the darkness that surrounds us; power to demolish strongholds that have taken root in our lives; power to understand the things of God; power to tear down and to plant. 

No wonder that Paul says that a servant ought to prove trustworthy; God cannot entrust His power to those He cannot trust to represent His values.  When God annoints us for the ministry of truth and justice, He pours out on us this power to understand the secrets of God's heart.  Paul found that he could not explain the secret things of God to the Greeks despite his best efforts.  So from then on, he resolved to know nothing but the power of Christ crucified. 

Who could understand the helplessness of a crucified savior who said, "Unless the grain of wheat fall into the ground...."?  Peter, Paul, all the apostles except John, who was exiled---all died for the sake of the Gospel, but the dunomis--the power of God did not die with them; it was released into the world through them. 

St. Vincent dePaul said, "It is not enough to love God if our neighbor does not love God."  If our neighbor does not love God, we too must become the grain of wheat, giving our lives as the seed that ultimately bears fruit.  Our "power" must be the power to serve---and indeed it is "power," because as long as we are locked into the prisons of our own darkness, we cannot be aware of our neighbor's needs.

This is the power of God:  the power of humble service, the power to trust God in all things, the power to realize that we ourselves can do nothing, the power to lay down our lives for the sake of the Gospel.  None of this is possible to ourselves, but is given only by the Spirit of Jesus in us.

All Saints Day

We are surrounded by a great cloud of those who intensely love us, and who look upon us with great benevolence.  Those who have gone before us are, with Jesus, preparing a place for us.  But even now, they are supporting us with their prayers and positive energies on our behalf.  We are not alone on the journey; we have inherited great strength from those who surround us and support us.  And we can call on their support at any time. 

This is what it means to be the church, the body of Christ: their strength is our strength, even in our weakened state.  What they have attained is made available to us, even in this life.  We drink from the same fountain, which is Christ, and we are all nourished by His Body.  We have a share in His wisdom, expressed in myriad ways by all the saints, who are all eager to share with us what they have learned and acquired from Jesus.  Just as we ourselves are eager to share with others the all-surpassing knowledge of Christ given to us, so too the saints in heaven do not "rest," but continue to pray for those they have left behind on earth.  When Therese of Lisieux says she will let fall from heaven a shower of roses, she means that she will continue to do good to those who draw near to her in love and in fellowship with the risen Christ.  And who are they that we ourselves will continue to bless in the next life?

No more posts until Nov. 2.

"You shall be My witnesses..."

Those who wrote the Gospels were not primarily teachers, but witnesses.  They wanted only to testify to what they had seen and heard, as John says in his first letter.  It took Paul, who was well-schooled in the Book of the Law, to draw out the implications of what the Apostles had experienced.  He did this not by reasoning, but by the illumination of the Spirit, after meeting face to face with the living Christ.  Paul was a witness to his experience with the Resurrected Jesus, but he was also the first teacher of the new sect, the followers of the Living Christ.  The spirit of God illumined his mind to understand the Scriptures he had known from his youth.

Once we, like Paul, actually meet the Living Christ, we also become witnesses to His power in our lives.  There is a famous Greek icon which depicts Jesus holding either a closed or an open book---both versions of the icon "teach" the same lesson; the book is closed to us until He opens it to us.  We might read the Scriptures, but they remain obscure until the light of Christ illumines them.

Paul says in I Corinthians that the Spirit searches the deep things of God in order to reveal them to us (I Cor. 2:13 ff.).  We cannot understand "teaching" until we have the experience---after that, we ourselves become witnesses to the Truth.  St. John says, "we write about what we ourselves have seen and heard and touched, that your faith may be sure."  If we have not "seen and heard and touched" for ourselves, we remain unconvinced.  If we have had an experience with Christ, then we ourselves become witnesses to what we know to be true.

Be Still and Know that I am God....

The Lord says,

You are worried and anxious about things that cannot be changed (the past), but out of chaos, I drew light and beauty.  So it shall be forever, for those who trust in Me.  Cast your cares on Me, and I will heal you.  When you "cast" your cares, you cannot continue to worry over them as if you could somehow "fix" what has been done in the past.  All of your present care and concern will not change one moment that has gone.  Trust Me for your future---that alone is in your power.

I cannot now untangle the sins and influences of the past.  I cannot "do it over again," and even if I could, I'm not sure I could get it right a second time.  This is purgatory, if not hell---to see and recognize the wrong we have done and to be helpless to change one moment of the past---to see the suffering we have inflicted on others, people we love, and not be able to change or alleviate their suffering.  There is only one remedy:  Jesus Christ has taken upon Himself all the blows of the world and has transformed them into a new, resurrected body, which He now shares with us.

Peter's consciousness of His denial of the Christ kept his heart compassionate toward others in their weakness.  His very sin "qualified" him, so to speak, as head of the church, the hospital for sinners.  He had experienced the welcoming arms of Jesus; he could now hold out his own arms to those who had miserably failed.  Having the faith to have stepped out of the boat, he immediately sank beneath the waters, but the strong hand of Jesus brought him safely back to the boat.  Never again could he trust in his own strength or faith to save him.

Praying the 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.....

What is it I really "want" now?  What is my deepest need?  If the Scripture says, "there is nothing I shall want," what is it talking about? 

Most of us have a restless energy of some kind.  There is "something" we want, we need at the deepest level of our persons---something we need to be settled, to be at peace with ourselves and with others.  Something we need to establish our lives for the future.  What is that thing?  Can we identify it?  Does it have a name in our consciousness?

If we don't know what it is we lack, how then can we look to the Lord for its supply?  First, we need the light of grace to identify what it is we truly need; we need the Holy Spirit to help us give it a name.  We may be trying again and again to "fill ourselves up" with things that fail to truly satisfy us because we fail to recognize what we are really looking for.

When I was 19, I recognized within myself a vague longing for a close friend.  It was something that took a long time for me to "name," because at that time, I had many good companions.  I could enjoy being with almost any group of people, but I wanted something more, something that I had not yet experienced.  I wanted to be able to share the deepest part of myself with someone else; I was never satisfied with conversation that was mostly narrative.  I was always kind of bored with "what happened."  What I most needed was a philosopher-friend---someone who was more invested in what happens than in what happened. 

When I was finally able to identify what it was I needed, someone said to me, "The kind of friend you are looking for is a gift from God; you have to ask Him for it."  What a revelation that was!  I had been jealous of people who seemed to have close friendships, yet I had never thought to ask God for what I most deeply wanted.

Nor had I yet learned what C.S. Lewis defines as "friendship"--two or more people passionate about the same thing.  Most of us want a friend, but we have failed to develop the deep passions that draw others to us.  Most of us live in a matrix of companionship---people vested in the same enterprise--school, work, clubs, sports, etc.  Within that matrix, we will usually stumble across one or two others who share the same passions we do.  Friendship is not about two people looking at one another, but about two people looking at something deeply important to both.  They both agree that this thing is important---even if, as Lewis says, the "thing" is simply stamp collecting.  So, as we develop our deep interests and passions, we are also building a house where certain people will want to come and share those passions with us.

What is it we need?  We may need the Lord to help us name it so that He can then supply it to us, just as the shepherd must supply everything for the sheep.  He knows what they need more than they do---sheep cannot forage for themselves as for example, cayotes or other wild animals, as even a cat left outside overnight can do.  The sheep are totally dependent on the Shepherd for grazing, for water, for safety---they cannot even defend themselves against attack.

If we take the Lord for our Shepherd, He Himself will have to identify our deepest needs, help us to see what they are, and then supply them for us so that we can truly say, "there is nothing I shall need...."

What God Wants

God wants to become incarnate in every human life, to walk among every culture and race and people.  He wants only to enter into our lives and to be welcomed there.  Can we make room for Him?  Can we find a place for God in our lives?

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one opens to Me, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20).

He has not said that we must first sweep the house and prepare a gourmet meal; He has not said that we must hide the garbage can and unclutter the spare bedroom.  He has simply said that we must open the door, and He would come in.

We believe that God won't come to us until we clean up our act---but most of the time, we have no power, energy, or insight to do the necessary cleaning.  It's like saying that we cannot let the doctor see us until we are healthy.  If we want to know how to "clean up our act," we must let the Holy Spirit enter our lives and begin looking around at what is there.

In the Book of Nehemiah -- a reflection of the work of the Holy Spirit*---Nehemiah comes back from the Babylonian Captivity to oversee the re-building of Jerusalem, which had been leveled by Nebuchadnezzer in 587 B.C.  The glorious temple built by Solomen was now a pile of rubble; the protective walls of Jerusalem had been torn down---there was no protection for the captives who were trying to return to their beloved city. 

Nehemiah* (His name means "comfort," so he is a type of the Holy Spirit, the "Comforter,") walks around the city at night, observing the destruction and planning the work that needs to be done to re-build the walls.  He makes his observations at night so that the enemies/spies will not know what He is about to do.  Then He begins appointing people to work at specific places on the walls, while others were appointed to stand guard, to protect those who were working and could not hold weapons at the same time.  Slowly, despite mockery and ridicule and downright obstruction by the enemy, the walls of the city are re-built, and then people can dwell in safety, without fear, as they begin to re-build their own houses.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit walks around the torn-down walls of our lives in secret, planning the work that must be done to rebuild our lives in safety and security.  He appoints watchmen on the walls and workmen to build up the weak and torn-down areas.  Slowly, surely, He re-builds for us a place of safety and security, a place where God can dwell with us and walk with us.  That's all He wants--permission to come in and begin the work that needs to be done.  Why are we so determined to keep Him out?

Body, Mind, Spirit

Whether we are gardening, cooking, or making love, our best moments are when everything in us---body, mind, spirit---coalesces into a single whole.  The psychologists tell us to "be present in the moment," to "to be where we are."   One thing that yoga teaches us is to line up all that is within us --- body, mind, emotions, spirit.  We cannot 'do' yoga while ruminating about other things; if our body breathes, our mind breathes, our spirit breathes---all as one unit.

We have all had the experience of being in a classroom while our minds are a million miles away, usually trying to resolve an emotional issue.  We are distracted, divided, unsettled.  Again, how many of us have been in church, but impatient for the service to be over so we could be someplace else? 

Sometimes, as in knitting or in gardening, occupying our bodies with physical activity allows the mind and spirit the freedom to come together as one, to be at peace.  We are "in the moment" precisely because we are "where we are" and nowhere else.  If someone asks what we are doing, we can truly say, "I am gardening" or "I am knitting"---we are gardening and knitting our lives at that moment.

When the circles of our lives pull apart, we dis-integrate; we feel unsettled, restless; we cannot make everything in us line up.  We are here, but wish we were someplace else---or our minds are someplace else.

When the Lord says to us, "Peace, Be Still," He commands our minds, emotions, bodies, and spirits to have integrity---that is, to line up with one another into one whole unit.  This experience can happen in prayer, and the experience can draw us again and again into prayer until we become addicted to peace.

About a year ago, while I was praying, I heard in my spirit these words:

"You are not to worry about anything, whether physical, financial, or spiritual."  I wrote the words down and stuck them in the book I was reading at the time.  Even though I cannot today find the book with the piece of paper, the words have never left me, and I recalled them during the time I went through the experience of being diagnosed with lung cancer and having surgery:  You are not to worry about anything.....

It is so good to hand over one's life to the Lord and not to be pulled apart by worry and concern.  There is a unity and a peace that passes all understanding, that nothing can take from you.

The Eternal Christ

"He descended into hell" is an eternal act, as much as His death on the cross is eternal.  It was not only the souls who happened to be in hell at the time of Christ's death who benefitted from His descent; would it not also be all souls who have died beyond the reach of God who have the possibility of encountering Jesus in His saving act?  Does He not still "descend into hell" to recover the lost and damned?  Does He not still offer them the light of grace and glory?  Would not their loss of of all earth's pleasures and their present suffering make them more disposed to see Jesus as salvation, as hope, as rescue from the fires of hell?

Eternally, He lives; eternally, He dies; eternally, He descends into hell, that every generation might see the glory of God given to us in Christ Jesus.  He has delivered us from evil in life and in death.

What God Does

His glory is to take the weak and insignificant things of this world and to turn them into strength.  What man has no esteem for is precisely what God can use to manifest His love, power, and presence in the world. 

The ultimate manifestation of God's glory was the death of Jesus, in helplessness, by which God brought about a new creation, a new kind of existence on earth---men who could now live by the power of God in the midst of unbelievable circumstances.  No longer are we utterly defeated by the powers of hell and hatred, but we live by the power of God in us.