Archive for 2007

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Everybody Wants to Rule the World

· Monday, 31 Dec 2007, 7 am

A song the false self sings, with illusionary projections upon reality and self-made programs for happiness…

Welcome to your life
There’s no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on Mother Nature
Everybody wants to rule the world

It’s my own design
It’s my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

There’s a room where the light won’t find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I’ll be right behind you
So glad we’ve almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world

I can’t stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you’ll never never never never need it
One headline why believe it?
Everybody wants to rule the world

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

— Tears for Fears

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Simply Assisting God

· Saturday, 29 Dec 2007, 3 pm

A thought for what needs to be done this coming year…

I am a humble artist
moulding my earthly clod,
adding my labour to nature’s,
simply assisting God.

Not that my effort is needed;
yet somehow, I understand,
my maker has willed it that I too should have
unmoulded clay in my hand.

— Piet Hein

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Mind, Heart, Wisdom, Conduct

· Wednesday, 26 Dec 2007, 8 pm

Grant me, O Lord my God,
a mind to know you,
a heart to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
conduct pleasing to you,
faithful perseverance in waiting for you,
and a hope of finally embracing you.

— Saint Thomas Aquinas

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If a Thousand Flowers Bloom

· Tuesday, 25 Dec 2007, 11 am

If a tree falls, it makes a lot of noise;
but if a thousand flowers bloom,
it happens in the greatest of silence.

— Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Something to ponder this Christmas day…

Wake me up Father so that I won’t miss you. Purify my heart so that I may see You, so that I may see You in others, and others may see You in me.

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Definition of “Repent”

· Thursday, 13 Dec 2007, 5 pm

Ask for repentance in your prayer and nothing else, neither for divine lights, nor miracles, nor prophecies, nor spiritual gifts—nothing but repentance. Repentance will bring you humility, humility will bring you the Grace of God, and God will have in His Grace everything you need for your salvation, or anything you might need to help another soul.

— Elder Paisios from Mt Athos

In Manifesting God, Fr. Keating writes,

The first thing [Jesus] said when he began to preach was, “Repent” (Matthew 4:17). This word does not refer to penitential exercises or external practices but means change the direction in which you are looking for happiness. Jesus’ teaching clearly implies that our present direction does not lead to where happiness can be found, and still less to where God can be found.

Thus, a definition for repent:

Repent = change the direction in which you are looking for happiness

In other words, turn toward God, look toward God. Look at the first two commandments, love God and love your neighbor.

Reread Elder Paisios’s quote above on prayer…

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Why Christmas?

· Wednesday, 12 Dec 2007, 9 am

From Br. Joseph —

The young boy asked, “Why Christmas?”

His father replied, “You know, it’s December 25th, the season when everyone puts up Christmas trees and decorates everything in red and green. We hang Christmas lights on the house and…”

“Yes, I know all that Dad. Not when is Christmas. Why Christmas?”

The father tried again. “Well, it is a time for giving gifts to friends and loved ones to show that you care about them. Santa Claus comes and…”

“Not how, why Christmas?” re-asked the son.

“Christmas is,” slowly began the father searching his memory for the true reason, “Christmas is the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus.”

“Yes, Dad.” The son implored one more time, “Not what, why Dad, why is there Christmas?”

Little kids can ask a lot of questions, why, why, why. So why, why Christmas? Why was Jesus born? Why do we celebrate His birth?

You know the answers, at least you know the reasons stated by the church or by your parents and such. They are correct answers, but they are on the surface. Go deeper. Search your heart. Why is there Christmas for you?? Not when, how, or what, but why?

Why was Jesus born for you?

The Incarnation wasn’t just a thoughtful gesture on the part of God.

Was it to save the world, to save you? Do you need saving? Saving from what? If you don’t need saving, then you don’t need Christmas! Perfect people don’t need God.

Was Jesus born to bring peace? To heal? To bring life? To be the Way?

Yes, yes, yes. These are all great and important why’s, but believe it or not, the heart wants more.

Maybe the deepest reason is so simple and so basic to human need that we often forget it. The suffering Job asked a thousand questions and did not receive any answers, except one. It is the same answer we get too, but we often do not see it, or even accept it as enough.

Maybe the most profound reason why there is Christmas is found in Scripture in Matthew 1:23 —

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”

God is with us, with you. (If you think about it, what more do we truly need than God?)

Which leaves one more question…where is Christmas?

Thank you Mary for your “yes.” Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us…

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God does not reside…

· Saturday, 8 Dec 2007, noon

God does not reside in the tomb of my thoughts or words.

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Pick Carefully

· Thursday, 6 Dec 2007, 11 pm

On a country road in Kentucky where the pavement changes from blacktop to dirt, the sign posted says: Pick rut carefully, you’ll be stuck in it for next 20 miles.

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Hidden Within The Cross

· Wednesday, 5 Dec 2007, 6 am

It is so challenging to lead when one can not grasp the Way.
Even more challenging when one knows from experience
too many of the irrelevant detours available,
to hear
the voice of one crying out in a self imposed wilderness
because this is the only way one perceives the Light…
through intimacy with darkness.

do not be afraid, I am here.

The call to be prophet
when one desires only silence.
The call to use words
when one desires only presence.

do not be afraid, I am here.

The gift of vision
when one wants ignorance
of the pain of the acceptance
hidden within the cross
of one’s personal journey.

do not be afraid, I am here.

May we be graced
with the humility to desire
the masquerading glory
hidden within the cross
of one’s personal journey.

do not be afraid, I am here.

Within darkness I see the Light.
Embracing my lostness I am found.
Listening I am heard.
Hidden within the Cross
is my personal journey…
and yours.

do not be afraid, I am here
and I am here too.

— asmn

There is a story behind this poem. Perhaps I will be given an opportunity to write about it in the near future. Thank You. Thank you asmn.

Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux (Holy Cross be my light)

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Hey You!

· Tuesday, 4 Dec 2007, 6 am

From Br. Joseph —

I will raise up a prophet like you among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command. If any man will not listen…
(from Deuteronomy)

A colleague addressed me yesterday in the hallway with a warm smile and a friendly, “Hey you.” I returned a big grin. It immediately reminded me of an odd little story called “The Prophet” by Edward Hays (from his book Twelve and One-half Keys).

In this story, an elderly priest bent down to kiss the Holy Bible after the gospel reading during Mass. When he rose back up, his lips had mystically formed the letters Y-O-U in black, two-inch tall lettering. The congregation was in shock. Looking back down at the page, the same word was absent from the printed sentence. The poor priest could no longer speak. It did not hurt except when he tried to pry the letters from his lips. He mumbled his way through the rest of the Mass.

Later, alone in the rectory, the priest thought to himself, “Why, Lord? Why this word out of all the words in the gospel? Surely if a special word was to come, would it not be the sacred name of Jesus, or even the name of God? But this word; why did this small, unimportant word leap off the page and fasten itself to my lips?”

A few days later, the priest met with the bishop. The bishop assigned another to be pastor of the parish and invited the priest to live and work with him. The bishop said to the priest, “You can no longer preach the gospel, you must be the gospel!”

In the years following, the priest picked up the nickname “Father You-who.” It was a logical joke with the letters Y-O-U on his lips. To whom did they refer? Who was YOU? God? The person who looked upon the priest? Who indeed? And as with most prophets, humor was the best defense against the power of their message.

After ten years of faithful service, the priest died. As the priest lay dying, having received the sacraments of the Church, and with his close friend the bishop at his side, the priest tried to speak to thank his friend for their friendship but could not. Suddenly the letters shrunk and disappeared. Slowly, as if tasting a rare wine, the priest closed his lips and then opened them again to faintly whisper, “You!” It was the last word of the dying priest.

Afterwards, the bishop remembered something from long ago, that in the Orient, it is believed you will go straight to heaven if you die with the name of God upon your lips.

Love is about YOU.
We are members of the Body of Christ,
Branches on the Vine,
YOU and I…

Kind of gives “Hey you!” a whole new meaning!?

Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us…

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