Jesus prayed that we might all be one, as He and the Father are one.
So what is the source of our unity? It is not our philosophy, nor the ways we express our beliefs--for words mean different things to different people. Even the same words carry different meanings, depending on the experience we bring to those words. For most people, the words "peanut butter" convey almost inexpressible delight; for those of us who are allergic to peanut butter, even the words themselves can occasion a slight turning of the stomach.
When we speak of "God," all of us have different experiences of what that word means. For some, "God" means all that is good, holy, and beneficient. For others, "God" means the vengeful, punishing ruler of the world.
Jesus said to the woman at the well, "You people (the Samaritans) worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth" (Jn. 4:22-23).
When we truly worship God, not argue about beliefs, nor rely on our thoughts and ways of expressing our thoughts, we enter into unity with God and with one another. Jesus said the hour is now here when we are able to do that--because He is the One sent to give us access to the Father, to true worship.
When we kneel before the Father of Life, He bends toward us, breathing into us His Spirit. Our receiving of the Spirit of God is what unifies us in our different ways of seeing and expressing ourselves. Though we come from different backgrounds and experiences, the Spirit makes all things balance in harmony.
One who has experienced worship in Spirit and in truth is drawn to others who worship in Spirit and in truth, no matter what background or expressions they use to describe their experience. It has been said that believers can recognize one another, and I believe that is true. There is something beyond all differences and denominations that unites us.
Paul says in the Book of Ephesians: There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism...if so be that you have heard him, and been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus...(chapter 4).
What unites us is not what we think, but we have heard and been taught by Jesus through the Spirit. And the only way to "hear and be taught" by Jesus is to worship Him. It is only what we receive that will ultimately unite us as believers; if we learn anything from the Tower of Babel story, it is that when we are all trying our "best" to build what seems good in our own eyes, the project will ultimately fall apart.
At the Last Supper, when Jesus prayed for unity, He said to the Father: I have given them Your Name (I have revealed to them Who You Are) and I will [continue to] make it known....I gave them Your Word....
In order to know the truth, we need to receive the Truth. Those who worship -- ie, kneel, wait, enter into communion with---the Father will receive the Son, Who will send into our hearts the Spirit of Truth, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In that worship, we grow in truth and in the spirit of unity.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What is Faith?
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).
Under the shadow of your wings I seek shelter
until harm passes by (Ps. 57:2).
What, then, is the faith that pleases God? Is it a kind of courage or bravado? Is it trying to believe things that we are not yet sure about? Is it a hope that in the end, everything will be okay?
Faith is really none of these things, but instead a quiet confidence that God "has our back" --- always. That He cannot fail us in any circumstance....that we can seek shelter under the shadow of His wings until the disaster has passed by.
Faith is confidence. And how do we acquire this confidence? It is not manufactured out of nothing, but has a background and a basis. It grows in relationship and in conversation. It comes from experience, from "walking with God" all the days of our life, in good times and in bad.
We cannot wait until we need faith to develop it; it must be growing today if we are to eat its fruit tomorrow. Today, we plant the seed by turning to God in the smallest things of our lives. Tomorrow, we cultivate the plot, driving away the birds and beasts that would devour the seed, by once again bringing to the Lord every event of our lives---Good is the Lord to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him (Lamentations 3:25).
One way to develop faith, or to watch it grow, is to keep a journal of the events we bring to the Lord. Most of us pray and then forget what we prayed when the disaster has passed us by. But if we keep track of our prayers, we soon begin to discover the subtleties of the Lord's action on our behalf. What we think of as "coincidence" we begin to see as the Lord's answer to our specific cries. If we forget we cried out, we do not understand that the Lord heard us.
Nothing is too hard for God. In the Book of Isaiah, He says, Is my arm too short, that I cannot save? Everything is within His reach, within the scope of His action. But we must pray with confidence that (1) He hears us, and (2) that He cares.
I have heard people say, "I sure God doesn't care whether we find a parking space." Here's my question: "Do you care?" "Does someone you love care?" If the answer is yes, then I think that God cares too. Why don't we just ask and find out? If we think He doesn't care, we won't ask. If we think He doesn't hear, we won't ask. But if we have the confidence to ask, we will receive.
Monday, August 8, 2011
No Prayer=No Light
...although they knew God, they did not think it worthwhile acknowledging Him or giving Him thanks....and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite...They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless (Romans 1:20-31).
Paul's list of degradation that follows a refusal to acknowledge God was written to the Roman Christians living in a pagan culture. All around them were the very things that Paul writes about in the first chapter of Romans.
In the Old Testament, Psalm 106 has a similar list of degradations more fitting to desert nomads---but having the same exact cause: a refusal to acknowledge what God had done and to thank Him:
- [The Israelites] soon forgot all he had done
- In the desert, they gave way to their cravings...
- challenged Moses....
- fashioned a calf...
- worshipped a metal statue...
- forgot the God who saved them...
- despised the beautiful land...
- did not believe the promise...
- in their tents they complained...
- they joined in the rites of the Baal of Peor...
- ate food sacrificed to dead gods...
- so embittered Moses that rash words crossed his lips...
- mingled with the nations and imitated their ways...
- worshipped their idols...
- sacrificed to the gods their own sons and daughters, shedding innocent blood....
- desecrating the land with bloodshed....
- became adulterers....
- Many times did [God] rescue them, but they kept rebelling and scheming and were brought low by their own guilt.
Both the Old and the New Testaments trace the descent into immorality to a refusal to acknowledge God and to thank Him. It would follow, then, that the road out of degradation would be praise and thanksgiving, beginning with the works of Creation, the work of His hands. Prayer may be difficult at first for those who are not used to prayer, but thanksgiving for Creation would almost be a natural response to anyone who looks out of the window...
...who regards the sky and clouds, the sunrise and the sunset;
...who observes the waves of the sea and the birds that dive for fish;
...who sees the colors of the rainbow and the soft blush of a rose;
...who sits still under the shade of a great tree and who feels the caress of a soft breeze;
...who walks barefoot in the yielding grass;
...who watches children at play;
...who sees the effects of love at home and abroad.
If we bow our heads and close our eyes before God, we see everything. In beginning to give thanks for the works of His hands, we begin to walk in justice and in truth, leaving behind the works of darkness.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Center of our Being
The spirit that God has placed in us is beyond the mind and emotions--the psychological realm, if we use the Greek "psyche" to indicate that part of human nature. The spirit embraces what the mind cannot yet grasp---but if the spirit embraces it, the mind and emotions will catch up, understanding and loving what the spirit has already embraced.
Someone once described the spirit as the hook or the anchor used by mountain climbers--I know there is a name for it----the thing that climbers use to hook into a crevice above them. Then they use the rope to climb upwards toward the hook anchored in the rock. So the spirit in us goes ahead of our minds and emotions, anchoring in a rock somewhere above us. Eventually, the mind clears; the emotions grow peaceful, and we understand and rest in what we have already grasped.
That is why the faith of children is so pure; they grasp on a spiritual level what their minds do not yet understand. They "know" what they do not yet know intellectually. Jesus warned us how terrible it would be to lead astray a little child; he said it would be better to have a millstone tied around one's neck and thrown into the sea than to cause scandal to a child.
The knowledge of our inner man grasps what the mind is slow to understand. That is why the faith of the "little ones," the poor and lowly, often goes beyond the faith of the learned and the scholarly. Many of us will believe only that which we understand. Unfortunately, the understanding follows the spirit deep in the center of our being. We tend to understand only later what we believe (trust).
The Spirit of Wisdom dwells in and communicates to the center of our being, in our spirit. As our inner man rests in the Holy Spirit, our minds too, like our bodies, become enlightened----their eyes were opened, and they recognized him (Luke 24:31).
Whatever happens in our inner being overflows to our minds, our emotions, and even to our bodies. This is why Jesus needed to say first to the paralytic: Your sins are forgiven! Until the inner man is cleansed, and the center of our being is healed, the mind, the emotions, and the body are all blocked and dulled. We cannot see; we cannot hear; we cannot understand anything.
It is hard to get the mind to stop "talking" long enough to allow the spirit/Spirit to speak. Those who have the Gift of Tongues---not for others, but for themselves, as a way to pray---have been given a great gift: that of allowing the mind to be still while the spirit has a chance to emerge. Maybe the Rosary has the same effect of occupying the language center of the brain while the spirit has a chance to come forth.
Ultimately, though, Jesus said this: This is the work of God: to believe in the One He has sent (Jn. 6:28). He did not say that we had to understand, but only that we had to "believe," or trust, in Him. Then the eyes of our minds will be opened to understand.
Someone once described the spirit as the hook or the anchor used by mountain climbers--I know there is a name for it----the thing that climbers use to hook into a crevice above them. Then they use the rope to climb upwards toward the hook anchored in the rock. So the spirit in us goes ahead of our minds and emotions, anchoring in a rock somewhere above us. Eventually, the mind clears; the emotions grow peaceful, and we understand and rest in what we have already grasped.
That is why the faith of children is so pure; they grasp on a spiritual level what their minds do not yet understand. They "know" what they do not yet know intellectually. Jesus warned us how terrible it would be to lead astray a little child; he said it would be better to have a millstone tied around one's neck and thrown into the sea than to cause scandal to a child.
The knowledge of our inner man grasps what the mind is slow to understand. That is why the faith of the "little ones," the poor and lowly, often goes beyond the faith of the learned and the scholarly. Many of us will believe only that which we understand. Unfortunately, the understanding follows the spirit deep in the center of our being. We tend to understand only later what we believe (trust).
The Spirit of Wisdom dwells in and communicates to the center of our being, in our spirit. As our inner man rests in the Holy Spirit, our minds too, like our bodies, become enlightened----their eyes were opened, and they recognized him (Luke 24:31).
Whatever happens in our inner being overflows to our minds, our emotions, and even to our bodies. This is why Jesus needed to say first to the paralytic: Your sins are forgiven! Until the inner man is cleansed, and the center of our being is healed, the mind, the emotions, and the body are all blocked and dulled. We cannot see; we cannot hear; we cannot understand anything.
It is hard to get the mind to stop "talking" long enough to allow the spirit/Spirit to speak. Those who have the Gift of Tongues---not for others, but for themselves, as a way to pray---have been given a great gift: that of allowing the mind to be still while the spirit has a chance to emerge. Maybe the Rosary has the same effect of occupying the language center of the brain while the spirit has a chance to come forth.
Ultimately, though, Jesus said this: This is the work of God: to believe in the One He has sent (Jn. 6:28). He did not say that we had to understand, but only that we had to "believe," or trust, in Him. Then the eyes of our minds will be opened to understand.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Feast of the Transfiguration
Man was made to receive the breath/Spirit of God, the Spirit that "governs all things well"(Ws. 8:1), "the aura of the might of God, and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty" (Ws. 7:25). By the breath/Spirit/ruah in us, we become "living souls."
But sin blocks the energy of the Almighty in us. God said to Adam in the Garden, "on that day (that you eat the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), dying, you will die."
Science is beginning to discover now that our memories are stored not in the brain, but at the cellular level---in our cells. That is why we react to things viscerally in a way that our minds tell us is not rational. Once we have had a traumatic experience, our bodies remember and react to similar situations. And, even more interesting, these cellular memories are passed down from one generation to another. Then our cells are blocked from receiving nutrients and disposing of wastes because we are using that energy to deal with memories and trauma. Indeed, "dying, we are dying."
If anything speaks of the necessity of Mary being conceived without sin, it seems to me that this new science does so. The Spirit of God who conceived Jesus in the flesh had to be received wholly and entirely, without blockage of any kind. The Book of Wisdom says that nothing impure enters into the Spirit of God. Mary could not pass on generational sins that block the Spirit to the Son of God.
And so Jesus, though His glory was veiled on earth, was the Perfect Respository of the Spirit of God, "the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness" (Ws.26).
For one moment during His earthly existence, He let slip the veil and revealed His glory to Peter, James, and John. He told them to tell no one "until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." His reference, Son of Man, was to the Book of Daniel:
But sin blocks the energy of the Almighty in us. God said to Adam in the Garden, "on that day (that you eat the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), dying, you will die."
Science is beginning to discover now that our memories are stored not in the brain, but at the cellular level---in our cells. That is why we react to things viscerally in a way that our minds tell us is not rational. Once we have had a traumatic experience, our bodies remember and react to similar situations. And, even more interesting, these cellular memories are passed down from one generation to another. Then our cells are blocked from receiving nutrients and disposing of wastes because we are using that energy to deal with memories and trauma. Indeed, "dying, we are dying."
If anything speaks of the necessity of Mary being conceived without sin, it seems to me that this new science does so. The Spirit of God who conceived Jesus in the flesh had to be received wholly and entirely, without blockage of any kind. The Book of Wisdom says that nothing impure enters into the Spirit of God. Mary could not pass on generational sins that block the Spirit to the Son of God.
And so Jesus, though His glory was veiled on earth, was the Perfect Respository of the Spirit of God, "the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness" (Ws.26).
For one moment during His earthly existence, He let slip the veil and revealed His glory to Peter, James, and John. He told them to tell no one "until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." His reference, Son of Man, was to the Book of Daniel:
As the visions during the night continued, I saw
One like a Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him,
The one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
All peoples, nations, and languages serve him (Dan. 7:13-14).
August 6 is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus. He called Himself "the Son of Man" throughout His earthly life, a title that had to be offensive to the Scribes and Pharisees who understood the reference to Daniel's vision. But to those who would receive Him, His light would shine in their hearts to "bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Cor. 4:6).
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Jews, Gentiles, and Unbelievers
The early church was divided right from the beginning as to whether new Christians had to be circumcised---first become Jewish---to be Christian. St. Peter and St. Paul led the debates as the Christian church sought to resolve the controversy. The church came into existence on the Day of Pentecost, when 3000 were baptized, people from all over the known world. Most were Jews, in Jerusalem for the celebration---but the same Holy Spirit quickly began to be "poured out" on "devout" Gentiles.
It fell to Peter and to Paul to reconcile the believers with one another---the Jews still adhered to their customs, but the Gentiles did not (understandably).
In the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote this:
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. [Today, we might substitute the word "Baptism" for "circumcision."] If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.
In the Book of Acts, Paul also says that God has given the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. It seems to me that we can apply the same principles to the current controversy about non-Christians. Those 'unbaptized" persons who obey the laws of God show themselves to be "baptized" by the Spirit of God. The grace of God is a great mystery, not to be apprehended by the minds of natural mankind. I think we can trust that the plans and purposes of God are greater than any we can imagine.
In the meantime, as Paul goes on to point out in Romans, there is great advantage in being a Jew, for "they have been entrusted with the very words of God" (3:2). And they have the law, a guide to righteousness, integrity, and truth. There is great advantage to being a Jew; there is great advantage to being a Christian---but only if we are "inwardly" Jewish and Christian. Those who are not formally circumcised/ baptised may yet condemn those who are.
It fell to Peter and to Paul to reconcile the believers with one another---the Jews still adhered to their customs, but the Gentiles did not (understandably).
In the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote this:
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. [Today, we might substitute the word "Baptism" for "circumcision."] If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.
In the Book of Acts, Paul also says that God has given the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. It seems to me that we can apply the same principles to the current controversy about non-Christians. Those 'unbaptized" persons who obey the laws of God show themselves to be "baptized" by the Spirit of God. The grace of God is a great mystery, not to be apprehended by the minds of natural mankind. I think we can trust that the plans and purposes of God are greater than any we can imagine.
In the meantime, as Paul goes on to point out in Romans, there is great advantage in being a Jew, for "they have been entrusted with the very words of God" (3:2). And they have the law, a guide to righteousness, integrity, and truth. There is great advantage to being a Jew; there is great advantage to being a Christian---but only if we are "inwardly" Jewish and Christian. Those who are not formally circumcised/ baptised may yet condemn those who are.
Monday, August 1, 2011
What is "Eternal Life?"
Most of us might consider "Eternal life" what happens to us after we die---we continue to live somewhere "eternally." But the Greeks, thank God, seemed to have a more precise language--at least for the philosophical realm---than we do in English. The New Testament makes a distinction between zoe (eternal life) and bios (physical life).
The night before his death, Jesus told his disciples: Because I live, you will live also. Clearly, He was not speaking about physical life, but about the essence of life---life itself, the life that death cannot harm or destroy. The early Christians, before they were called "Christian," called themselves "the living" (hoi zontes in Greek.) They had found indestructible life, life eternal.
Jesus even told us, in His last prayer, how we might grasp "eternal life:"
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (Jn. 17:3).
"Knowing" in biblical terms, means not head knowledge, but heart knowledge, even physical union: Adam "knew" Eve, and she conceived a son. "Knowing" means clinging to, being united to, embracing.....
We "have" eternal life because we are united to, clinging to, holding onto the One Who alone IS zoe, Life itself. That does not necessarily mean we are "good Christians" and deserve eternal life, but only that we are poor shipwrecked people clinging to a Rock. If we cling to Him, He is faithful to help us. If we embrace His feet, as did Mary Magdalene, He is compassionate toward our helplessness. If we refuse to let go of Him, He will bring us to where He is.
Jesus told Martha: anyone who believes/trusts in Me shall never die---even if he dies, he will live. The darkness cannot overcome eternal Light; death cannot overcome eternal Life. And we can embrace this Life even before we physically die, if we "know" the One Whom God has sent.
The night before his death, Jesus told his disciples: Because I live, you will live also. Clearly, He was not speaking about physical life, but about the essence of life---life itself, the life that death cannot harm or destroy. The early Christians, before they were called "Christian," called themselves "the living" (hoi zontes in Greek.) They had found indestructible life, life eternal.
Jesus even told us, in His last prayer, how we might grasp "eternal life:"
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (Jn. 17:3).
"Knowing" in biblical terms, means not head knowledge, but heart knowledge, even physical union: Adam "knew" Eve, and she conceived a son. "Knowing" means clinging to, being united to, embracing.....
We "have" eternal life because we are united to, clinging to, holding onto the One Who alone IS zoe, Life itself. That does not necessarily mean we are "good Christians" and deserve eternal life, but only that we are poor shipwrecked people clinging to a Rock. If we cling to Him, He is faithful to help us. If we embrace His feet, as did Mary Magdalene, He is compassionate toward our helplessness. If we refuse to let go of Him, He will bring us to where He is.
Jesus told Martha: anyone who believes/trusts in Me shall never die---even if he dies, he will live. The darkness cannot overcome eternal Light; death cannot overcome eternal Life. And we can embrace this Life even before we physically die, if we "know" the One Whom God has sent.
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