The Tree of Life

Guard well your heart,

For out of it flow all the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).

We can depict the whole person as an image of three concentric circles, with the outermost circle, the physical, the most observable and the one most in contact with the world. The middle circle represents what the Greeks called the psyche, the intellect and the emotions, somewhat observable and somewhat hidden.  The innermost part of ourselves, and the least observable and most hidden, even to ourselves, is what the Bible calls the heart, or the soul.

We are most aware of and attentive to the physical part of ourselves; we spend a great deal of time feeding ourselves, entertaining and relaxing ourselves, and taking care of our bodies.  The psyche, too, wants attention and care.  The mind and emotions both want to be "fed," or attended to; we do not want to be bored but stimulated and active intellectually and emotionally.  On a psychic level, we crave two things:  safety and excitement.  The brain is designed to learn, to grow, to take in new information, but can do so only in a safe environment emotionally.  So sometimes fears, real or imagined, interfere with learning and growth. 

We delight in the physical capabilities of our bodies, but no matter how strong, how swift, our well our bodies operate, attention to the physical part of us cannot satisfy the needs of the psyche, although exercise can help calm the mind and emotions.  We now know that the state of the mind itself can also overflow to the body and bring health and healing. 

The innermost part of ourselves, the "heart" or the "soul"  also needs feeding and attention.  If we neglect the interior life, the life of the soul, that neglect will also starve the mind, the emotions, and the body.  If we feed the soul, however, our innermost spirits will also "feed" the mind, the emotions, and the body.

The Book of Proverbs tells us again and again that wisdom is the source of all life: 

fear the Lord and shun evil.

This will bring health to your body

and nourishment to your bones (3:7-8)

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,...

Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are pleasant ways,

and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who embrace her (3:13-18)

Many people read these words metaphorically, but I read them literally.  I know from experience that attention to the inner life will overflow to and satisfy the needs of the mind, the emotions, and the body.  The process will not work in reverse.

Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

It's very simple and very profound:  The role of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us the face and person of Jesus Christ; the role of Jesus is to reveal to us the face and person of the Father/God He alone knows; what the Father desires is to pour out into us His own Spirit/Person. 

Imagine a 3-dimensional triangle---a huge one, one that we could walk into.  The 3 faces represent the 3 Persons; the interior of the triangle is the energy, or dynamic, of the Father intensely loving the Son and giving Him everything He is, the Son intensely loving the Father and returning everything He is back, with the Holy Spirit the moving (not static) energy between the Two. 

It does not matter through which side we enter; we enter into the dynamic relationship of the Three Persons.  Some love the Son but cannot relate to the Father, but to enter the Son is to immediately be in relationship to the Father.

Some cannot "reach" Jesus; the Spirit must first make Him real to us.  Jesus told the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received "the Gift of the Father."  We, too, need to stay put until the Holy Spirit is poured out on us.  Only then will we know/experience Jesus Christ as real; only then will He be able to show us the Father.  And, as the Holy Spirit is dynamic, His energy will enter us to move us in the will and direction that God has planned for our lives.  That is why Jesus said the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin against the Holy Spirit---to refuse His energy is to refuse to know God.

Comfort

The word "comfort," from the Latin, means "with" (com) "strength" (fortis).  When the Comforter comes, He comes "with strength." 

Enoch (Genesis 5:24) discovered the Source of this comfort when he "walked with God."  If we walk with Him, we are comforted and given strength.  Nothing shall by any means hurt us, for we are in His Presence.

God is eternally and utterly faithful; He is present to us in every circumstance.  Why, then, should we be afraid?

Light

We are all sitting in darkness until the light of the world shines upon us.  Paul says of the Jews: "To this day, a veil covers their face when the word of God is read."
Greek icons portray Christ as holding a closed Bible, indicating that it remains closed until He opens it to us.  Only in Christ is the veil removed from our hearts and does the light penetrate the darkness therein.  We are all blind and without understanding until the Holy Spirit pours out in us the light of truth.

What a precious gift---to walk in the light and to be taught by the Spirit.  The words of God at the beginning drove back the darkness of chaos: Let there be light!  And light was.  We are all re-created by the word of light, and darkness shall never again rule over us, for He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Conundrum

He became naked,
exposed on a tree,
to cover our shame
and set us free.

He was enchained
because we were enslaved;
He--the precious ranson,
the price of our freedom.

The strong became weak
that the weak be made strong.

Thanksgiving

You are my God
Who taught me in childhood,
Who preserved my life from evil,
Who led me through the desert,
And established me in a good land.
Who has given me everything,
Who has fulfilled the desires of my heart,
Who has established me in Your place of dwelling,
Your holy Presence.

Peace

Our God is a strong arm
and a faithful shield;
With Him at my side,
I shall not be disturbed.

He enables me to go upon the heights
and guards my feet.
He watches over me in the night
and brings me safely into the day.

He is my God, my Rock, my Salvation, my Strength.

Fresh Air

Your Word, O Lord, is the air I breathe:

pure,

unadulterated,

strong,

refreshing,

strengthening,

invigorating,

refreshing the soul, mind, and body,

giving hope to the sinner

and repentance to the holy.

Your Word renews all things

and makes them whole. 

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my body, too, knows full well that You are my God!

Prayer

Let the Word of God
dwell in me:

to protect me

to heal me

to guide me

to teach me

to comfort me

to uplift me

to grow me

into the Word of God.

Asphyxiation

Asphyxiation
may be our worst sin---
to stifle the life-breath of our brother or sister;
to deny freedom of spirit to another person:
to smother the Breath of God in our own souls.

The Ministry of Scripture

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

With God's help, I can drive back an army;

with Him at my side, I can scale a wall.

The Lord is my Refuge;

I shall not be afraid.

God's ministry to us is strong and constant; the Spirit of God searches our hearts and applies the Scriptural balm needed at the moment.  He comes with healing in His wings to save us.

Scripture is our Truth, our Refuge, our Healing, our Guidance, our Strength, our Hope, our Good.  How blessed are they to whom it has been given!  Wisdom instructs her children with the very words of God Himself.

In the first chapter of Genesis, we see God's plan for mankind and the earth, a plan of harmony between God and man, between man and woman, and between man and the earth.  As God breathed His own breath/ spirit into man, He also gave man dominion over all the earth, to rule and to manage---to maintain the original harmony of "walking" with God, "walking" with one another, and "walking" with the animals. 

By failing to be of one spirit with God, man also lost his harmony with other men and with the earth; only the Spirit of God can maintain balance and harmony over creation.  Now, man and woman are out of step with one another (the next generation intensifies the alienation with God and with one another).  And the earth is out of step with man, now producing "thorns and thistles" along with fruitful abundance.  Death has entered the Garden of Paradise, as the skins of animals are now necessary to cover the nakedness of man and woman. 

In Jesus Christ, the curse is reversed:  God once again enters finally and definitively into human history and walks with man; He will never again withdraw His Presence from us.  He can no longer be driven out by man's refusal to welcome Him because One Man, as High Priest for all men, established forever the Presence of God on earth.  Jesus took upon His own head the rebellious thorns produced by disobedience; He took upon His own body the blows of man's alienation with his brother.  In His own body, He reconciled all things and re-established the original harmony between God and man, man and man, and man and the earth---He made all things new again. 

Now, through the reign of Jesus Christ in the hearts and souls of men, the Spirit of God once again hovers over the earth to overcome darkness, to restore order and balance, to bring the reign of God.  Jesus is the Beginning and the End-Point of all creation; in Him, mankind and the earth itself reach their fullest and most perfect potential.

To Deborah

You sat under a tree

in Israel,

Knowing

that the work was God's,

not yours,

and that when the time

was right,

you would be found

by those who sought your wisdom.

You did not leave your post,

dashing off to solve Israel's urgent problems.

You waited,

and watched,

and sought the face of God.

And in your hand,

His weapon was not found wanting.

For He chose the weak and insignificant things

of this earth to shame the strong and the powerful.

Transfiguration

In a moment of Transfiguration,
I heard the Voice:
This is My Beloved Son;
listen to Him.

But when the moment passed,
I opened my eyes
and saw only Jesus.

How can He be the Son of God?

"First," He said, "the Son of Man
must enter into His passion and suffer.
He must become the abandoned,
the eternally lost,
the One-Who-is-no-longer-Son.

Only then can He enter
into the glory of His Father
and your Father,
the glory which was His from the beginning,
and is now yours.

The Kingdom of God

In the Presence of the Living God, one does not continue to "say prayers" except for one:  Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done...

This is the "Pearl of Great Price" for which a man will trade everything he has---the Presence of God.  His kingdom does not arrive without His Presence, for His very Presence is the sum and substance of His kingdom.  Where He is, is Peace, is Truth, is Justice, Righteousness, and Purity without shadow. Where He is, is laughter and joy and simple goodness.  Where He is, men forget themselves, trusting everything to His goodness and providence.  Instead, they consider the needs of their neighbors and offer whatever they have to supply that need. 

Come, Lord Jesus---it is enough if You dwell among us as You have promised from the beginning.  Your presence among us creates a Garden of Paradise and the Kingdom of God.

God With Us

From the beginning, God always intended to dwell with us on earth.  He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and even after Abel's death, Cain cried out, "My punishment is more than I can bear.  Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence."  Cain's descendents continued to be hidden from the presence of God (Gen. 4-11), but Seth's descendents "called on the name of the Lord/Yahweh"---they knew Him by name, even before God revealed His name to Moses in the desert.

God was present to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; He was present to the Israelites in the desert.  To this day, Jews still celebrate the Festival of Booths, commemorating God's dwelling among them on the way to the Promised Land.  For the First - Century Jews, God dwelt among them in the Temple, but now that the Temple is gone, does that mean that God is also gone from among men on earth?

On the day of Pentecost, God established a new Temple---the gathering of believers who acknowledged that Jesus was/is the Presence of God with us [Emmanuel/ God with us].  And this Jesus promised, "I am with you always, even to the consummation of the world."

The Presence of God in Jesus did not keep the disciples from arguing amongst themselves; His Presence today does not keep us from disagreeing with one another either---but still, He promised that where 2 or 3 gathered together in His Name, He would be there.  I pray that His Presence with us would become stronger than our disagreements.

The Role of Revelation

Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises and patterns.  However, without Paul, so well schooled in Jewish thought and practice, we would not have seen many of the connections nor would we be able to draw out the theological implications of Jesus' life and death.  To be sure, Matthew, writing for Jews, saw how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies---but for all the applications of Jewish life and practice---the high priesthood, animal sacrifice, circumcision, the Paschal Lamb, etc.---it took Paul to bring us to the level of spiritual understanding of Old Testament types and themes. 

In God's hand lies not only our salvation, but also our understanding of what He is doing.  His revelation to mankind is as important to us as His action on our behalf.  Isaiah said, To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

If we want to see what God is about, we need to "turn our ear" to the Spirit of God, whose role it is to show us:

The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue,

to know the word that sustains the weary.

Morning by morning, He opens my eyes,

Wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

                                                      (Is. 50:4)

Hebrews 4:12

The Word of God is living and active, more powerful than any two-edged sword, cutting through spirit and soul, joints and marrow....

The Word is in us:  we are formed and shaped by it; it is living and active, moving, darting swiftly through our bones and our souls, re-arranging DNA and the thoughts of our minds.  The Spirit of God and the Word of God are one:  as God spoke "Light, BE!" and light was, so the Word of God in us and the Spirit of God in us pushes back the dark, chaotic places of our hearts, minds, and bodies, sending in its place life and light, order, harmony, and beauty.

Once the Word has begun to take root in us and grow in us, many people find it difficult to continue reading and studying the Bible, but the Spirit is now teaching us from within.  It is the difference between sitting in a classrom reading a textbook about nature and walking through the woods with a  Master Naturalist, who points out every tree and leaf and bird and stream, illuminating the mysteries and inner workings and inter-connections behind everyday wonders.

Allowing the Word of God free reign within us is to frolic in the kingdom of God without fear or anxiety, knowing that the Spirit of God will teach us all things and remind us of Truth in every circumstance.

Reflections of a Eucharistic Minister

I have watched You, Lord,
give Yourself freely
to all who come to You:
the poor, the ignorant, the young and the old;
the strong and the feeble,
the pure of heart,
and those hardened by sin;
the ones who try to do right
and those who care little;
the desperate alcholic
and those in sorrow;
the wounded
and the innocent.
All who come
Receive.
You hold back nothing
of Your grace
to those who come to You.

The power of stories

Why did the Centurion come to Jesus, but only that he had heard of His mighty works?  If people do not hear, how will they believe?

Faith comes by hearing....First, people must hear and then they must come to ask.

If I had never heard of the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit," how would I have known to ask?  I would have been without hope, for I would not have believed that God was still at work in the world today as He was on the day of Pentecost.  But in His great mercy, He sent to me a young girl who could testify to the power of God to transform a life, and from her testimony, I was able to ask for that power in my own life.  All of my education and "knowledge" had not led me to faith, but to unbelief, although I still had "Religion."  But seeing and hearing what God had done for this girl brought me to ask for the same gift. 

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."  In her case, it was deliverance from the power of drugs.  If we do not have a story, we have little else.

Jer. 6:6-9

Blessed be the Lord our God, Who comforts us in every affliction, Who forgives all our iniquities, Who teaches us all truth, and Who show us the path to life.  When we were yet helpless and weak in the darkness of sin and error, He reached out to us in the Person of His very Son and redeemed our lives from the pit.

He is the deliverer from the power of sin and evil.  This is the good news:  we are no longer under the power of death, but have been set free.  Jesus Himself destroyed the power of death by rising from the dead.  If we live in Him, we live in His power of overcoming death daily.  To live is to commune with God, Who breathes into our souls His very Ruah---His breath, His Spirit, His energy.

Planting and Reaping

My greatest desire is for God to plant His Word of Truth in each heart.  I want all men to know His revelation and the Spirit of Truth Who gives it from the heart and mind of Jesus Himself.  All of us are blind and deaf and dumb until the arrival of Jesus Christ Who opens our eyes and ears and mouths.  Without Him and the Spirit He breathes into us, we are like Adam from the earth---fully formed but not "a living soul."