Here.... and here....and here

We all pray daily for the coming of God's kingdom to earth...Thy kingdom come.  Jesus' first message was precisely this:  The kingdom of God is among/within you.  He is the kingdom of God; His arrival on earth established the kingdom of God.  It comes with His Presence in us, among us:  Where two are three are gathered in my Name, there I am among you.

God will not "take over" the earth with His kingdom.  The earth has been given to mankind, and only we can allow the kingdom to arrive.  But it arrives in us, through us, the same way it arrived through Mary:  The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God;...his kingdom will never end.

As Jesus taught us, the kingdom grows slowly, as yeast rises in dough.  It is established here...and here...and here...and then, suddenly, we see it.  As each one of us, like Mary, yields our minds, our bodies, our lives to the the action of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, the Holy One, is born in us -- and He is the One who establishes the kingdom of God in us, and through us, and with us....here....and here....and here. 

Yesterday, I wrote about what kind of people we will need to be to be part of heaven's throng.  We will need to be transformed from the kind of people will now are --- but we cannot do it ourselves.  We cannot re-make ourselves because the bitterness, rage, resentment, scars from old wounds, etc. are now part of our DNA.  The sin/hurt/injury is too deeply embedded in us for us to heal ourselves.

We must be re-born, not according to the old man / Adam, but according to the new man/ Jesus.  His mission is to establish the kingdom of God among us by making all things new (Rev. 21:5).  He wipes away every tear and overcomes in us the fear of death, the empty way of life handed down to us by our fathers.  The kingdom of heaven is now, and here, among us, within us.  It is established by the Son of God in us, among us.  Thy kingdom come.....Come, Lord Jesus, now, in me, in my life, in my body, in my property, in my possessions, here...and here... and here.

It is not done all at once; it is a process of continually handing over to His Lordship all that I am, all that I see in me and around me.  I like to think of my property, the little piece of land given to me by God, as one small place on earth where His kingdom has come, is coming, will continue to come.  Everyone who sets foot here has set foot in the kingdom of God.  My soul, too, is part of where God dwells on earth, so my soul -- my mind and heart -- must be ruled by the Spirit of the Most High.  Jesus must be Lord here of heaven and earth, for only He can establish the kingdom on earth of His Father.

When I die, the transition must simply be the falling away of the body of earth.  The mind and heart and spirit have already been -- or are in the process of being---transformed into His image.  His kingdom must have already been established on earth in my body, my mind, my heart, and all that I possess on earth.  Of course, I myself have not the smallest clue as to how this can be done, and of course, I do not myself know where to begin doing it.   Like Mary, I must leave all of that to Him, to the One who alone knows how to take this body of earth and to make it new in the kingdom of God.  Everything belongs to Him.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, and He will do all that is necessary to overcome fear and death in me.

We were designed for the marriage, the union, of our flesh with the Spirit of God.  If we refuse that union, the kingdom of God will never arrive in us, with us, for us, and through us.  It's that simple.  Only God can establish His kingdom on earth.  But He will not do it without us, or in spite of us.  He will do it only through our free and whole union with Him.  He will do it through the free and whole reign of His Son in our flesh.

Thy kingdom come...here...and here...and here -- in every situation my hands touch, at every point where my feet touch the ground, in every door I enter, in every person with whom I speak...Thy kingdom come.

Praise and Thanksgiving

This morning, I was thinking about the kind of creatures we will be in the next life, and how the transition must occur from who we are presently and who we will be in heaven. 

It seems to me that we must enter heaven full of joy, with songs of praise and thanksgiving for all that God has done for us and for the whole world.  If we are not ready now to sing with overflowing joy, what has to happen to us to make us full of joy and thanksgiving?  I can't imagine us entering heaven with complaints or dissatisfaction still in our hearts.

First, I think it has to be obvious that all fear must disappear from our hearts.  "Perfect love casts out fear," so somehow we will have to know deep inside that we have nothing to fear, that we are forever safe and secure:  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Rev. 21:4-5). 

Second, I think we must be content; we cannot be wanting something else, or something more than is given to us.  We must be truly joyful at what everyone else has been given, at the glory that shines from every soul around us.  We must think -- really and truly -- that everyone else is much better than we ourselves are.

And, no matter what our doctrinal differences, they just won't matter any more.  There is only one Temple in heaven, and one Light/Lamp in the Temple -- and we will all be gathered together in worship and praise of the Lamb of God, the Light of the World.  I recently heard the story of two great evangelists in the 1800's.  One was John Whitfield, but I cannot recall the name of the other.  Whitfield was evidently converted to Christianity by his good friend, the other evangelist, but eventually, they parted ways over doctrine.  One was a staunch Calvinist; the other tended toward Armenianism, whatever that is.  Both, however, were famous men in their own right.

When the Calvinist died, Whitfield was asked whether he thought he'd meet his friend in heaven.  "No," replied Whitfield, "I won't.  That man will be so close to the throne of God that I'll never catch a glimpse of him."  What a great answer!  I think we'll all have to be jumping up and down with excitement over the glory that envelopes all of the saints of God.  I'm sure we won't be sitting around discussing who was right about doctrine.  "The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love."  (I think that's from James.)  As for status, or for the kind of work we did on earth, I've always loved C.S. Lewis' statement:

The work of a Beethoven and the work of a charwoman become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly, "as to the Lord."  This does not, of course, mean that it is for anyone a mere toss-up whether he should sweep rooms or compose symponies.  A mole must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow.  We are members of one body, but differentiated members, each with his own vocation --from "Learning in War-Time," a radio talk reproduced in The Weight of Glory).

 

Thinking about what kind of persons we will be in the next life might start us on the way to being that same kind of creature in this life.  Of course, if we are more bent to complaining than to praising, it will not be possible for us to re-make ourselves without the Spirit of God Himself doing the necessary work in us.  But it will take us recognizing that we need to be re-made before we can allow the Spirit to begin working to change us.

A New Pentecost?

When we read in the Acts of the Apostles about the fire of Pentecost falling, and 3,000 people being converted in one day, we often forget to read what followed very shortly -- severe persecution, leading to the stoning of Stephen and the dispersal of every believer except the apostles from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

It seems that whenever there is a great move of the Holy Spirit, even today, it is quickly followed by severe persecution.  Every one of the four Gospels quotes Jesus as telling the apostles that they will be hated and persecuted:  If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own...He who hates me hates my Father as well...I have given
them Your word, and the world has hated them (Jn. 15 & 17).

Someone once asked me why the Jews have suffered so much throughout history.  Somewhere in the Old Testament it is written, "The blows of those who hated You have fallen upon me."  My guess is that this quote is from Isaiah, who writes of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh.  We tend to think of the Jews as the "chosen" people, but part of their being 'chosen' means that all who hate God will also hate them.  The darker the world around Jews and Christians, the greater will be the hatred of the light that is in them.  In the late 1980's, 300,000 Hmong people, who number in the millions and who live in the mountainous regions where China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos converge, converted to Christianity.  Obviously, this had to be a "New Pentecost;" the conversion was so dramatic that it made international headlines.  Shortly afterwards, the new Christians were terribly persecuted:  believers and pastors were interrogated, tortured, and imprisoned for their faith.  Some were fined a full year's salary and forced to sign papers renouncing their faith in Jesus.

This same kind of persecution is being found in Muslim countries today against both Jews and Christians.  Anyone who becomes a Christian will be tortured, imprisoned, and killed.  It was no accident that the instant the Light came into the world with the birth of Jesus, evil entered into the heart of man to extinguish the Light.  Herod was determined to find and kill the newborn king of the Jews, and in the process, He destroyed every child in his path.

Early in Genesis, God had set Abraham as a touchpoint of blessing or of curse for the world:  Be thou a blessing....every nation will bless themselves through you...I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.  I'm sure by this time, someone must have done a study of all the nations of the world who have persecuted Jews and Christians.  It would be interesting to see what has happened to those nations over time.  Today, Jesus is the touchpoint of blessing or curse for the world---those who love the Light will come to Him; those who love the darkness will hate the Light.

We are still free in America to proclaim the Light of the World because there is still enough light left from our early inheritance, but darkness is on the horizen even in this country.  Persecution is rising against the light even now.  When I read about the persecution of the Jews in Hitler's Germany, I wonder if the same could happen in America.

Between Bethel and Ai

When Abraham first entered the land of Canaan, he pitched his tent between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.  There he built an altar and called on the name of the Lord (Gen. 12:8).  Now the name "Bethel" means house of God, and the name "Ai" means heap of ruins.

I think that for most of us entering the Way of Jesus, that is exactly where we are living-- halfway between the house of God and the heap of ruins that is/was our way of life before we met Jesus.  We tend to face the heap of ruins on a daily basis -- our own thoughts, our own judgments, our own ways of solving problems -- even though we know that none of these things really work.  It's just so hard to turn our back on Ai and face Bethel when we know Ai so well and are so unfamiliar with the House of God.

The image of Abraham camped between these two cities and building an altar has helped me tremendously in turning my back on Ai, the heap of ruins.  Abraham had already left his father's house and everything that was familiar to him, but he had not yet learned to fully live in the House of God, so he was still emotionally reliant on his old way of life.  He still had a long way to go to reach Bethel. 

We all make judgments about other people, but our thoughts are not God's thoughts.  Since we don't know God's thoughts, we tend to hold fast to our own.  But recently, God has begun to show me that my own judgments are a "heap of ruins."  I must learn to turn my back on my thoughts and embrace His.  Building an altar on which my judgments can be burnt/ sacrificed is a good beginning.  And continually facing the House of God to learn His thoughts is another.

Recently a friend wrote a beautiful blog about waiting -- giving up her own way of solving problems and waiting for the Spirit of God to enter the situation of her concern.  Now that is turning your back on a heap of ruins and facing the House of God, waiting to see what He will do instead of trying one thing after another.  His ways are not our ways, but until we begin to see our ways as "a heap of ruins," we are not yet ready to embrace His ways.

The Fifth Dimension

There are actually more than four dimensions in this world where you live.  In addition to the three dimensions of space and the one of time, there is the dimension of openness to My Presence.  This dimension transcends the others, giving you glimpses of heaven while you still reside on earth.  This was part of My original design for mankind.  Adam and Eve used to walk with Me in the garden, before their expulsion from Eden.  I want you to walk with me in the garden of your heart, where  I have taken up permanent residence (from Jesus Calling, May 24).

 

Every story in the Bible is told in the four dimensions of time and space in order to reveal something about the 5th dimension -- the story of our spirits in relationship to Jesus Christ.  When Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be 'born again' in order to see the kingdom of heaven, this is what He was referring to -- the ability to enter the 5th dimension of openness to the Spirit of God.  The physical world comes first: we are born into space and time and most of us continue to live in those dimensions without even being aware that there is yet a 5th dimension which influences and even controls the first four.  Trying to control and manipulate the four dimensions which the world sees without the 5th dimension is like building the Tower of Babel.  Built only on man's resources, without God's direction, it must eventually collapse.

 

For the past year and a half, I have been listening to a friend telling me of an abusive marriage of 46 years.  "God has abandoned me," she has said over and over.  "I have nothing and no one; my family will not help me.  My husband has stolen my birth certificate and somehow had my social security cut off.  He has repeatedly told me that he plans to destroy me.  My lawyer will not return my calls and he does nothing.  I have no resources and no recourse.  I am stuck forever in this situation."

 

Even I, groaning for over a year in her pain and helplessness, was beginning to doubt that God was hearing her prayers.  I could think of nothing else to tell her.  She was unable to get a job because of her background and lack of computer skills, and there seemed to be no way out of this marriage.  She could not afford to start over with another lawyer, and the one she had seemed to be inert -- maybe dead.

 

Last week, she called and told me that her lawyer had finally called and said a court date -- in abuse court -- had been set for this past Wednesday.  "Abuse court!" she cried.  "I know what that means: they will want us to go through counseling again!  I cannot face this again.  We went through counseling three years ago, and he lied over and over to the counselor, right in front of me -- and nothing changed."  She was about to drop the whole process in hopelessness and helplessness.  They had once before gone to a hearing officer for divorce, and nothing happened beyond that stage.  I encouraged her not to drop the case, but to hope in God instead. 

 

This past Wednesday, she discovered that the lawyers had come to an agreement and everything was settled:  her husband has 30 days to get out of the house because of recognized abuse, and she will get the house plus a living allowance (he had cut off all her money and tied up everything in IRAs since her last attempt to break free of him).  For the first time in 46 years, she has a chance to regain a sense of peace without fear.  When she told me the news, I told her that I had been to Mass on Wednesday to pray for the outcome, and that I had discovered it was the feast of St. Rita of Cascia, who had herself lived with an abusive husband in the 14th century.  I was amazed that after almost two years of no response and no action on the part of her lawyer, that he had finally done something on this particular day.  Of course, I enlisted the prayers of St. Rita in this case.

 

When I told my friend about my discovery of St. Rita's feastday, she started to cry.  It seems that several months ago, she had gone to confession and had told the priest about her situation.  "For your penance," he told her, "I want to you begin praying to St. Rita of Cascia for her help.  She too experienced what you are going through, so she will help you."  On Tuesday, my friend, without knowing of course that Weds was the feastday of St. Rita, had cried out in fear of what the next day would bring:  "St. Rita, you are doing nothing for me; I have asked over and over, and you are not helping me!"  Little did she know what the next day would bring.

 

Had I not gone to Mass that morning, had I not read St. Rita's story in Give Us This Day, I would not have known to ask for her intercession, and I would not have known about the feastday being the same day as the court date.  Suddenly, everything was now settled without months of fear, fighting, and screaming.  Two years ago, my friend had attempted to get a divorce with no help from the 5th dimension, and she failed, only making the situation more desperate.  Now, suddenly, and without her quite knowing how, she was free.

 

Thinking back on the events of Wednesday, I was somewhat amazed that more than a year and a half ago, the Holy Spirit prompted me to call this woman who I had not talked to in well over 25 years.  Even though I could not help her at all in the 4 dimensions, and even though I have been crying and groaning with her in her helplessness all this time, now I see the hand of God at every step.  All I could do -- and did do -- was to tell her not to give up, that God had a plan we could not see.  I cannot tell how many times she was ready to drop the case because she had no hope or help, and had no money to hire another lawyer. 

 

It took the 5th dimension--the communion of saints who were open to the Presence and Resources of God--- to deliver her from evil; the other 4 had no resources at all.

Be Thou a Blessing

I think it is safe to say that all good men (and women) want to be a blessing to others.  A few days ago, I wrote about the indwelling Spirit of God and the outpoured Spirit.  That is just another way of saying that "good" people -- those who have the indwelling Spirit -- want to be "good" to others; they desire to bestow on others the blessings they themselves have received.  This is what it means to be "like God:" to have His Spirit of love and generosity, to have his desire to bless others, not because they somehow deserve to be blessed, but just because we, like Him, want to share the good with others. 

God said to Abraham:  I will make a great nation of you and will give you blessing and will make your name great.  Be thou a blessing!  I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.  All the families of the earth will find blessing through you! (Gen. 12:2-3).

Yesterday, I wrote about listening to God and following his directions for our days instead of our own plans.  It takes faith to believe that such a 'plan' will work, when it is so much easier to rely on our own thoughts, ideas, and resources.  That is why Yahweh had to instruct Abraham to leave his kindred and his father's house and go forth to "a land I will show you." 

Once we turn our backs on our own ideas, our own judgments, our own plans, and dedicate ourselves to following God's plan for us, He will make of us a blessing on the earth.  Until then, we are trying to do it our way -- by building a Tower of Babel, so to speak.  The people living in the plains of Shinar had what they believed was the latest technology in brick - making, and with that new development, they believed that they could make a name for themselves by building a tower to the heavens.  It is no accident of Scripture writing that the story of Abraham follows immediately the story of Babel.  Now, the man who listens to God will not make a name for himself, but his name will be great, nevertheless.

In the church of St. Clement of Rome, there is a beautiful statue of Mary, clasping to her breast an open-winged dove.   At her feet is a spring of flowing water -- the baptismal pool.   I love the whole imagery, the whole setting, because I believe it captures without words exactly the process of becoming a 'blessing' to others.  The very first time I saw this statue, I thought to myself, "Spouse of the Holy Spirit."

God wants us to be a blessing on the earth by allowing His Holy Spirit to be wedded to our flesh:  God in man.  He wants us to be like Him, and to allow His Breath/Ruah in us to breathe out upon the world around us.  All fruitfulness on our part comes from the union of God and man -- not from man attempting to be God.  When we embrace the Spirit of God in our flesh, He first begins to renew us, heal our wounds, give us His peace and joy, and restore us to what God had designed us to be.  Then the Spirit in us will flow out to the world around us, blessing all in our path.  We cannot choose how this blessing will occur; we must allow the Spirit in us to direct our paths.

When the Spirit of the Lord 'overshadowed" Mary, the Word of God became flesh in her.  Immediately, "she rose with haste and went into the hill country" in response to the information given to her.  She went to be a blessing to her cousin Elizabeth, who in her advanced age would obviously need assistance in the last months of her pregnancy.  I'm sure Elizabeth overflowed with gratitude that God had sent Mary to help her -- but even more, I'm sure Mary became grateful that the Spirit had revealed her own secret to Elizabeth.  Now the two could share their joy without awkward human explanations of divine mysteries.  Moreover, since Zachariah was the high priest that year, he could have searched the Scriptures for prophecies about both his own son and the promised Messiah.  For 3-4 months, the three of them could have engaged in a shared Scripture study and prayer.

When the Lord bestows on us His indwelling Spirit and gives us direction, He also brings us to a place where we can both be a blessing to others and receive blessing from them, to our mutual joy and peace.  If we want to be a blessing to others, it is necessary that we first receive the Lord's Spirit in our own flesh and let Him direct our paths from that time forward.

What if....?

The human mind cannot be turned off; we go through the day thinking constantly -- not always the thoughts we want to be thinking, but nevertheless thinking.  Sometimes we find ourselves thinking about a person, a song, etc. that we cannot get out of our heads---Why am I thinking about this? we ask ourselves.

But what if....our thoughts come to us from someplace else.  We imagine that our minds are a closed system, that everything we think comes from within ourselves.  But what if that's not the case --- I'm just suggesting an idea here.  What if the thoughts come to us from someplace else?  What if our minds and spirits were exquisitely sensitive receiving stations, receiving signals from abroad?

We often see cartoons of little angels on one shoulder and little devils on the other, both whispering in the ears of the person about to be tempted to do evil.  But what if that were more true than funny?  If, for just one day, we were to entertain the concept of our minds being receiving stations rather than the station of origin, I wonder what difference it would make....

Instead of waking up thinking, "I want to do this today," or "I think I'll....,"  what if we woke up listening attentively to Another Voice.  What if we woke up in prayer, asking to be tuned in to the Voice of God, to the One who most cares about what happens to us today.   What if we learned to accept direction instead of directing our own lives?  What if we learned to discern the spirits, as St. John tells us, so that we come to recognize the voice of Jesus and reject the voice of Satan and his angels?

Jesus told his disciples that they were 'clean' because of the word He had "spoken" to them.  He also rejoiced with Peter that "flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven."  Clearly, Jesus expected that His Father would speak not only to Him but to others also.  And He was even more clear about the Holy Spirit speaking to us, leading us into all truth and revealing to us the secrets of the Father and the Son.

St. Paul was given his mission by a spoken word, just as he was taught the Gospel not by men, but by the Spirit:  I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:11-12).  Almost everything Paul did in his ministry was the result of revelation, not human direction:  Fourteen years later, I went up to Jerusalem....I went in response to a revelation....(Gal.2:1-2).

Reading Scripture is a good beginning to opening our spirits to revelation, to the Voice of God speaking in our hearts.  But it is in response to the spoken word -- the Rhema -- that we are given direction (other than general guidelines, of course).  We need to know Scripture in order to recognize the Voice of God; otherwise, we will always wonder where this idea is coming from.  But Scripture without prayer, without the Spirit of the Lord enlightening the words for us, will not set us on our feet and direct us each day into the will of God for us that day.

Once we can accept that God wants to speak to us and direct us daily, life becomes a great and glorious adventure in hearing the plans He has for us, more than we ourselves can ask or imagine or dare to believe!

Indwelling and Outpouring

As we approach the Feast of Pentecost, it would be helpful for us to understand the differences between the indwelling Spirit and the outpoured Spirit. 

As I look around my own church, I see many Catholics who certainly have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, leading them to intense and fervent prayer, prompting them to good works and cheerful giving, and attendance at weekly Mass.  I am most thankful to have grown up in the culture of Catholicism -- the culture and practice of daily and weekly Masses, of daily prayer (turning to God on a habitual level), of frequent thought, of small sacrifices, of the lives of the saints, etc.  The indwelling Spirit is undeniably cultivated by the Catholic culture, as anyone who has been raised in the city of New Orleans can testify.  We may joke about Catholic culture and "who's yo mama?" but if anyone asks where we grew up, we will automatically respond with the church parish: St. Catherine of Siena, St. Leo the Great, etc.

As those who grew up in Jewish culture were raised in the synagogue and with all the rituals of Passover, circumcision, and the Sabbeth, so too the lives of New Orleans Catholics centered around St. Louis Cathedral, the observances of Lent and Good Friday, and perhaps the family rosary.  We were bred to cultivate and respect the indwelling Spirit of God through outward observance.

What we did not grasp, for the most part, as Catholics, is that the indwelling Spirit is the pre-requisite to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit -- i.e., the experience of Pentecost.  We were not taught to expect a Pentecost experience in our own lives.  We were taught to expect a ministry of some sort in terms of a vocation, a 'call' to the married life, the religious life, or the single life.  The missing link, so to speak, in our education was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for that ministry.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit from birth is for the building up of the person of God; the purpose of the indwelling Spirit is to build up within us the character of Jesus Christ--His own peace, love, patience, long-suffering, joy, goodness -- all the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22).  Without those fruits of the Spirit, any "ministry" we have to others will be fruitless, as St. Paul tells us in I Cor. 13:

If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am but a resounding gong and a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing....

 

The indwelling Spirit is the fountain of living water which Jesus promised to the woman at the well.  It slakes our own thirst for love, for joy, for peace, for goodness and mercy -- and makes us ready to receive and minister to others. 

 

But there is yet more to come.  In John, Chapter 7, Jesus goes further and says that those who come to Him for living water, from out of them will flow streams, rivers, of living water also.  The outpoured Holy Spirit is for the building up of the church.  It is for ministry to others, to slake their thirst for goodness, for peace, for joy, for truth.  It builds the body of Christ and overcomes division.  It makes us one, so that the burdens of one become the burdens of all the rest. 

 

I believe in many quiet ways, the Spirit has been outpoured through Catholic lives from the beginning --look at the ways all the Saints have built up the church that was crumbling over time.  Yet, I also believe that as Catholics, we need to be taught that the indwelling Spirit that builds us up on a personal level will also overflow into the lives of others -- the Gifts of the Holy Spirit:  wisdom, knowledge, understanding, fortitude, reverence, -- plus all the gifts Paul lists in I Cor. 12 and 14. There is a reason the famous chapter on love is inserted right between the two famous chapters on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The indwelling and the outpouring are two sides of the same coin, and both are the work of the Holy Spirit in us. 

 

If we have been walking with God from the beginning, we should expect that sooner or later, He will set us as a city on a hill, a light to the nations, and the salt of the earth.  He doesn't light a fire in our souls in order to quench it or to put in under a bushel basket.  Let us pray for the outpoured Holy Spirit as well as for the indwelling Spirit of God.

FREEDOM!

More than 50 years ago, Josef Pieper published a book titled Leisure, the Basis of Culture.  His book turned out to be one of the most important philosophy titles published in the 20th century.

According to Pieper, leisure is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. Pieper shows that the Greeks and medieval Europeans, understood the great value and importance of leisure. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure -- a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture. Pieper maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure, and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture -- and ourselves.      (Barnes and Nobles' online review of the book.)

The story of the Exodus is the primary story of the Jews; God commanded them to celebrate and to re-tell, generation after generation, the story of their deliverance from slavery roughly 2000- 1500 years before the birth of Christ.  And, as it turns out, there is a definitive reason for embedding the story within annual ritual and re-telling.  It is the story not only of the Jews, but of all humanity.  Israel is humanity personified:  what happened to Israel is what happens to every person who sets out on a journey of faith.  [This pattern is characteristic of Biblical history -- the Bible is more about what happens than it is about what happened.  It is our history, not just Jewish history.]   The story of Israel also describes the experience of every person liberated by God.

Here is the way Richard Rohr explains the connection:

The stories of Exodus make religious sense to people only to the extent that they are converted, only to the degree that they are walking the journey of faith.  If you are walking in the Spirit and listening to the Spirit, you can relate these stories to your own life, you can identify with the experience of Israel.  The person who is alive in the Spirit can recognize spiritual things.  If, on the other hand, you are playing a social game called religion or an academic game called theology, this story will never speak to you ( The Great Themes of Scripture, p.20).

 



According to Moses standing before Pharoah, the slave-owner and master of the Israelites, God wanted Egypt to "set my people free, that they might go into the desert and worship Me."  Now here is a great truth which most people today do not see -- until we are free from the things that enslave us, we are not free to worship God.  No true worship occurs in slavery to the things of this world.

 

When we live in fear or bondage to the past -- to the trauma we have experienced as children, to the fears that were embedded in our hearts and minds--- when we have become enslaved to habits of sin and addiction, etc. -- we are not free to worship.  We are chained to old habits and to the past habits of reacting to the world around us.  We are not free to create, to break free, to sing and to dance, to invent ways of expressing the spirit of joy, of praise, of thanksgiving.  We are slaves to sin. 

 

Look at the media images of criminals, of the man who held the three girls captive for 10 years.  Can you imagine this man in some creative endeavor, in the freedom of worship of God?    He is as much enslaved to evil as his victims were enslaved to the evil he expressed outwardly.  Jesus promised us two things:  You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free, and He also promised us that we would have the Advocate, the Counselor, who would lead us into all truth.  He promised us FREEDOM!  Freedom from the slavery to sin and to the past, freedom to enter into the true worship of the Father, freedom to be led by the Spirit of God rather than the spirit of evil and untruth.

 

It was only the Israelites' leisure in the desert that unchained them from the past forms of slavery--slavery to idols, slavery to endless labor, slavery to other men.  Now they were free to worship Yahweh and to learn creativity.  They began to build a Tent of Meeting, where they could enter in and worship the God who led them to freedom -- and in the building, they learned creativity.  The entire book of Exodus, after escape from slavery, is about the building of the Tabernacle and about how God "filled [them] with the Spirit of Practical Wisdom" (Ex. 28:3) -- i.e., creativity-- to construct the Tabernacle, the priestly garments, the jewelery, the lampstands, the engravings, the colored vestments and tent coverings, the ropes, braids, the blue-violet, the purple, the scarlet, the carnelian topaz and sparkling-emerald, etc. 

 

In the process of constructing the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the former slaves of Pharoah's tombs were learning the trades of freed men.  They were learning the crafts that could support them and their families forever, once they entered the Promised Land.  God was raising them up from slavery to freedom. 

 

Until we are freed, we will never learn the uses of leisure -- contemplation, creativity, the arts of healing, of music, of art, of culture, of worship.  "Let my people go, that they may go into the desert and [there learn the leisure, the freedom of] worship."  God has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed.  My prayer is that every man, woman, and child may discover what God has in store for those He brings from slavery to the freedom of true worship!



Spirit of Practical Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, (i.e.--does not know what to do), he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).

 

Yesterday I wrote about taking God as the Senior Partner in the business of our lives.  Once we get this mind-set, it is amazing how it changes our thinking.  The Book of Lamentations says, "He has taken up all the causes of my life"  -- if we allow Him, for He will do nothing without our permission and acceptance.

 

But when we "acknowledge Him in all our ways and lean not on our own understanding" (Proverbs 3:21), He does direct our paths, just as Scripture promises us.

 

Years ago, when I was teaching, I found that my feet would swell painfully during the day.  Add to that a bone spur on one toe plus the pressure of a fungus nail on the same toe, and my life was miserable.  I started bringing 4 pairs of shoes to my office and changing shoes all day.  Then I started buying more and more expensive shoes and putting the cheap ones in the Goodwill bag.  Nothing seemed to work.  Finally, I began to think I would have to stop teaching, as it was difficult for me to walk across campus and to stand on my feet in the classroom.  One day, as I headed back across campus to my office, I was in so much pain that I was seriously thinking of sitting on the sidewalk to take off my shoes and walk barefoot the rest of the day.  "O God!" I cried out, "if you will just tell me what to do, I promise I'll do it." 

 

That afternoon, I decided to stop at my mother's house on the way home, a rare occurance for me, since I had to meet my children after school, prepare dinner, and hopefully, put my feet up for a few minutes.  "It sounds as if you have arthritis in your feet," Mom said; 'that's how mine started.  And if you are craving anything, it's poisoning you ---- corn is the worst!"  I shrugged my shoulders, thinking that (a) I was too young to have arthritis, and (b) I wasn't craving anything, least of all corn. 

 

But the next morning, I reached into the pantry and pulled out a packet of instant grits.  For months, I had been craving grits, and eating them even sometimes at night before bed.  I stared at the package:  "That's corn!" I thought.  Intrigued, I got out all my books on natural healing and remedies and began to read about arthritis.  Sure enough, corn was the worst offender in inflammation, but the other nightshade vegetables were also on the list -- potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant -- all of which I grew and devoured.

 

For the next month, all those vegetables were off my diet, and by the end of the month, I could wear all the shoes in the Goodwill bag again.  As long as I did not eat those vegetables, I was entirely pain-free, no matter what pair of shoes I wore.  And once my body was purified of inflammation, I found that I could detect hidden poisons even when I did not realize I was eating them -- fish fried in corn oil, for example.  For the last 20 years, I have been entirely free of arthritis, except when I have decided that "just this little bit won't hurt."  Then, once again, I am in pain, not only in my feet but in my hands.

 

I cannot tell how grateful I am to the Lord for His Spirit of Practical Wisdom, which has saved me from excruciating pain all these years.  Tomorrow I will continue on the same theme.

Senior Partner

Imagine if you worked for Warren Buffet; imagine if you were his on-site manager.  You would come to work on a daily basis expecting problems to arise that day --- that's why you are there -- to handle the things that come up.  You know what Buffet expects; he hired you and trained you to use your skills to protect his interests.  And when you need direction, advice, or resources, he is available to you.  He does not leave his business entirely in your hands because it is still his business, but he does trust you to manage it from day to day.

Our lives are like that:  if God is the Senior Partner in the business of our lives, He expects us to use our skills to manage each day.  But he is still involved; it is His business after all.  He is willing to provide guidance, advice, and resources ---but He also expects us to consult Him regularly.  He is not an absentee landlord; He is present and active in all the endeavors of our lives. 

Many people just cannot accept Jesus' teaching about the birds of the air and lilies of the field (Matthew 6:25-34).  I don't know if they think Jesus was just speaking poetically here or if He was blowing smoke, but they cannot accept His examples literally.  This passage follows the one about not being able to serve both God and Money -- and the word "Money" is capitalized in the Scripture, which should tell us something.

I think our lives are a mind-set.  Are we really "reporting for work" each day?  Or do we get up thinking that our lives are our own "business," that we are in charge of all that happens, that it is up to us to make the business run and show a profit each day?  The question is, Whose business is it?  Who is in charge?  Who provides the resources?  Who figures out the bottom line at the end of the day?  To whom do we report the successes and failures of the day?  Are we employees or bosses?

To be an employee does not diminish us at all; in fact, if we keep in mind the Warren Buffet analogy, it would be a great honor for us to have his trust and to manage his business.  Our prestige would be enormous; could we desire to go higher in the world of business than to manage one of Buffet's establishments?  Would we have to compromise our ethics to work for such a man?  Would we have less integrity as persons if we worked for Buffet?  No, but his own "glory," if you will, would be our own.  We would shine in his light.

The same if true if God were the Senior Partner in the endeavor of our lives.  We would shine in His glory; He would provide the resources -- we would be the managers.  How exciting is that?

Old Covenant -- New Covenant

From the very beginning, God always desired a relationship with mankind.  He breathed into Adam His own breath/spirit (ruah) so that there could be communion of spirits between God and man.  But man desires the God-spirit + something else.  And the "something else" usually begins to quench the communion between God and man.

Our own experience testifies to what happens when a covenant between man and woman begins to diminish:  one of the partners desires his/her spouse + something else or someone else.  Then there is a distance between the original pair; the covenant relationship begins to fade.  At first, we desired every word that came forth from the mouth of the beloved, but later, we begin to hear less, or discredit, the words that issue forth from the other.  We question; we wonder if our partner knows what he/she is talking about; we think we know a better way; we begin to distance ourselves and diminish the original communion of souls we once had.

And the same process goes on with our children:  when a child is born, our first thought, more or less, is Adam's when he first saw Eve -- at last, this one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.  There is total communion between child and mother; when the child is in pain, the mother is in pain.  When the child is content, so too is the mother.  Later, however, the child begins to pull away from communion of spirit with the parents and go his/her own way.  She questions whether the parent really knows what he is talking about; she eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and chooses by the appearance of good instead of by the wisdom of her parents.  There is no longer a communion of spirit, but 'brother against brother,' so to speak, as each vies with the other for control.

When a child cannot be controlled by a look, or by communion of spirit with the parent, another system must be instituted until the child is mature enough to gain wisdom for himself.  The relationship of child to parent for a time must be one of command and obedience, in order to protect the child from harming himself and others.  Many parents want their children to 'love' them or to be their 'friend,' but this attitude toward parenting often leads to disaster because children are not yet ready for that kind of relationship with the parent.  As a child matures, though, the relationship must change; the parent is no longer 'in charge,' but standing back, supportive and encouraging as the child begins to find his/her own way in life.  The love and desire for communion has not changed, but now the parent waits for those feelings to emerge from within the child himself. 

Reflecting on the natural growth process helps us to grasp the Old Covenant-New Covenant relationship of God and mankind.  God has not changed in His desire for communion with mankind, but man had to 'grow up' before he was ready for communion with God.  Yahweh had to teach, to guide, to mentor Israel into an understanding of who He is and what He wants for them before they were ready to accept an "adult relationship" with the Most High.  The New Testament is the story of that relationship. 

Jesus said, "Salvation is from the Jews."  God could not teach mankind as a whole because He had to find a person, a family, a tribe, a nation who would listen and obey Him under the 'old' covenant before they were ready for a new relationship:  I no longer call you servants but friends, Jesus said to His disciples. 

A new kind of relationship is given to us, an adult exchange of love and respect and appreciation, just as we experience with our adult children.  But even now, under the New Covenant, many people are not yet ready for this kind of relationship with the living God.  Rather, they prefer the Old Covenant relationship where they were told what to do and when to do it.   If they follow the rules, they are safe and do not have to engage further with a Person Who loves them beyond all measure. 

Each one of us must go through the "growing up" process in our faith/relationship with God.  At first, we follow what we are told.  Later, though, when we are ready, He will send His own Spirit-breath into us, and we will know the absolute freedom of relationship and love, the divine exchange of Spirit to spirit.  And just like falling in love, we will rejoice in a new relationship that need never grow old or distant.

The Gift

In Chapter 10 of John's Gospel, Jesus tells us that He is the gate; whoever enters by Him will be saved.  I wonder how many people think about what He is the gate to.  When we enter by the Gate, what do we enter?  Where are we going?  What does He mean that we are "saved"?

I love, love, love being "here," at this stage of my life, for being able to look back over so many years (which now seem so few) gives me a perspective that cannot be had from the age of 30, 40, or even 50.  Looking back now, I see myself at 30, for example.  I was a "good person," from the natural standpoint.  I went to church regularly; I (kind of) obeyed the commandments; I didn't deliberately hurt other people -- though what I was doing without knowing it was terrible.  But something was still missing from my life, and I did not know what it was.  I remember searching desperately for that something that I could not identify.  I tried yoga; I tried Hari Krishna; I tried faith-sharing groups; I tried Universal Unitarianism -- all alongside my basic Catholic beliefs, which were great and wonderful.  But I knew there was something more.

I have told the story many times of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on me in a hospital room in 1977.  I don't need to re-tell how that Gift of the Holy Spirit entered my soul and changed me forever, giving me continuing peace, joy, truth, and goodness from above, satisfying the deepest cry of my heart.  In addition to deep and genuine peace, the Holy Spirit gave me access to the Word of God for the first time in my life.  Now I had a hunger and thirst to know the Bible, what it says, what it means.  Scripture says that when Jesus ascended into heaven, He bore with Him 'gifts to man.'  To each one of us, gifts are given for the common good.  Some He gives as apostles to the nations; some He gives as prophets, as teachers, as administrators, as givers, etc.  He distributes gifts to all as He wills, according to His wisdom.  I am sooooo grateful for the gift of Scripture which I have been given --- and I know that I have not used the gift the way I need to, but it has so enriched my own life that I cannot express enough how grateful I am. 

But none of these things is the Gift that I speak about today. Today, I am thinking about Jesus' words, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved."  The Gate.  The Gate to.....?? 
I know the answer is "the Gate to eternal life."  But that answer is too abstract, too much "in the future" for people struggling today with not enough money, for children with health problems, for marriages falling apart, for sons in prison, etc.  My question today is What does the Gate open to us today?  What is the Gift that Jesus gives us today, as well as the promise of 'eternal life'? 

Jesus did not come to 'teach us how to live,' to give us better principles or guidelines than those given in the Old Testament, etc.  He was not a great moral teacher, a better prophet, or whatever "men say about Him."  I mean, He was all these things --- but that is not The Gift He came to give us.  If we stop there, we have missed everything, for then everything depends on us, just as it did in the Old Testament.  Then He need not have died on the cross. 

When Jesus says He is the "Gate," He means that those who enter through Him enter into the same relationship with the Father as He Himself has --- that is the Gift He came to give us:  If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (Jn. 14:23).  The Gift Jesus offers us is the Indwelling Presence of Himself and the Father.  He is the Gate to a new kind of existence -- the presence of the Father who loves us, the presence of the Son Himself dwelling in us and bringing us to the Father, the Gift of the Spirit of Love between the Father and the Son, now bringing us into the same relationship of love that energizes all of creation. 

It is not at all about us being "good people," or obeying the law, or going to church.  Rather, the Gift of entering through the Gate is that we will 'find pasture' for our souls (Jn.. 10:9) in the peace and joy of being in relationship with God Himself.  That was what was missing from my own life before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Jesus coming to me.  Now that the Spirit of Jesus dwells within me, I know the Father as He knows the Father; I learn the Scriptures as he shows them to me; and I have the same relationship with other people that He has with them. 

If we only knew the pasture, the rest, the peace and the joy that lies on the other side of the Gate, we would all run to it and through it!  At the Last Supper, Jesus said, "I am telling you these things that my joy may be in you."  What is "his joy" but the love the Father has for Him and for the world?  That is the joy that He shares with us on the inside whenever we enter the world He experiences through the Gate

Empty Vessels

When I open my kitchen cabinet in the morning, the coffee cups are vying for my selection:  "take me," says one; "I am larger than all the rest."  Another one says, "Yes, but my colors are brighter and more vivid than all the rest."  Some of them point to their attractive shapes, to the artistry with which they have been fashioned, and others remind me of the places I have visited when I acquired them.

"Hey, hey!" I say to all of them.  "I have chosen each one of you for a different reason, and I love each one of you for a different reason.  What is most important to me is that you are waiting to be of service to me today.  I need for you to be clean of dirt and debris, to be empty and waiting to be filled with the liquid of my choice.  I need for you to be ready to be put into the hands of my guests, the ones I choose to hand you over to.  I need for you to be quiet and satisfied in my hands, whether I choose you today or tomorrow, or not for awhile."  And then I choose one of them for today's pleasure.

Mary's usefulness to the Most High was her emptiness, her purity of heart and mind.  She was a chosen vessel to hold the fullness of divinity, to carry the outpouring of God's love, beauty, goodness, mercy to the world.  Nothing of her own could stand in the way or pollute the radiance of God given to mankind.  She wanted to hold something of Him for herself, but in the end, she let go of all that she had been given:  They have no wine, she said to her son, knowing full well that she was handing him over to the world.  After that, He would no longer be hers. 

God had said to Abraham, "Give me your Isaac, your only son whom you love."  As He said to Mary, "Give me your Jesus, your only son whom you love."  And she let go of her most precious boy, the delight of her eyes and heart.  She gave Him to us, the One who was everything to her, that He might become Everything to us also.  From that point on, His family were those who heard the word of God and kept it.  She had poured out all that God had given her, as drink for the world, just as He was later to do on Calvery. 

Empty vessels, waiting to be filled, waiting to be poured out in obedience to the One who filled them.

God Who Acts in Us

A recent longitudinal study of Catholic youth into young adulthood revealed that something like 78% of young people claim that they made a commitment to God before the age of 14.  The reasons for this commitment were not clear in the survey, but I have to believe that such a high percentage is not the result of teaching per se, because Catholic teaching of young children has never emphasized 'giving your heart to Christ' or "making a commitment to God,' as much Baptist teaching does.  In fact, my students are often confused when asked by their peer if they are 'saved.'  They are not sure what that means from their experience in the Catholic church.

What I think can account for this reporting is the fact that the Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of young children, whether they are being formally instructed or not.  My granddaughter, who has never been taught about God and who does not attend church at all, told me last year that when the sun's rays come streaming from behind the clouds, it seems that God is "right there." 

There is something that lies at our deepest center that is like a 'bell' ringing inside of us, alerting us to truth, goodness, and beauty.  We can often tell whether someone is honest or not, though we have no words to explain what it is that is telling us not to trust another person.  What we call 'religion' is man's response to the deepest part of himself, his deep center, that we call God.  When we touch that center, we are home; we have found ourselves, and we want to find ways of expressing our deepest joy.  Some mystics, trying to find words for their experience, call it the 'inchoate memory of God's kiss as He puts our souls into our bodies."

The pre-Vatican II mass in Latin, accompanied as it was by music, incense, ritual, symbols, and quiet was the perfect setting for the soul that wanted to touch the face of God, without words, without understanding---and sometimes even without emotion.  Mysticism is knowing ourselves as rooted in God beyond explicit thought and feeling.  Mysticism is everyday contact with Someone who loved us before we were born, before we were ''good,'' before we were fully developed. 

I am not suggesting that we return to the Latin Mass, but I do believe that as we leave childhood and depend more on reason and intellect and less on "knowing that we know," we need to find ways to just be in the Presence of the God who loves us beyond all thought and reason.

My own words are becoming fewer and fewer in the face of this great mystery of Presence, and I am considering no longer writing a blog, since every 'explanation' of what I experience in God falls far short of the reality.  Maybe childhood and old age have that in common -- no words are necessary to validate the experience of God's Holy Spirit in our hearts.