If you do not answer the noise and urgency of your gifts they will turn on you. Or drag you down with their immense sadness at being abandoned. — Joy Harjo
If you do not answer the noise and urgency of your gifts they will turn on you. Or drag you down with their immense sadness at being abandoned. — Joy Harjo
A recent status update of mine on FaceBook: Gave up Dr. Pepper for Lent. Minimum amount of Mt Dew is staving off the caffeine withdrawal headaches, but it’s not the same as good ole DP. Giving up Facebook would have been easier. 😉 Offer it up. If you can’t read between the lines, I’m addicted […]
A potential paradox/friction/confusion/fertile ground for mediation. (Or, I’m just missing a piece of the puzzle.) Justice = rendering what is owed to another 1) Question: What is the “what” that is owed to another? I have an internal sense of what is owed to others. Some words or labels: respect, love, kindness, compassion, help, service. […]
I think there is a choice possible to us at any moment, as long as we live. But there is no sacrifice. There is a choice, and the rest falls away. Second choice does not exist. Beware of those who talk about sacrifice. — Muriel Rukeyser She is mostly correct, but her warning needs clarification. […]
Asking people to pray is like telling the wind to blow the ear to listen the eye to see We cannot not pray anymore than not be once given the gift of existence We can only shut it out or deny it Prayer is simply the conscious dimension of being when it opens out to […]
Oh do you have time to linger for just a little while out of your busy and very important day for the goldfinches that have gathered in a field of thistles for a musical battle, to see who can sing the highest note, or the lowest, or the most expressive of mirth, or the most […]
From Br. Joseph — We have all seen pictures of the crucifixion. There is one particular picture, a bit different from most, which I want to describe. The viewpoint of the picture is from above the Cross, a little higher than His right hand and a little behind, looking downward over Jesus on the Cross, […]
From Br. Joseph — There are two sides to faith, just as there are two sides to a coin. One side of the “coin of faith” looks externally, that is, it looks outside of our selves to others for examples and models of living faith. They are witnesses, and it is in accepting their experiences, […]
From Br. Joseph — This is the last reflection of a series on seven signposts. The first reflection began Lent, and now this one bridges us into the Easter season and beyond. Signposts give us direction. They point to some place. They involve action, movement. Many signposts call us to remember something important, some thing […]
A stanza from “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash: When you see the Southern Cross for the first time, You understand now why you came this way, ‘Cause the truth you might be runnin’ from is so small, But it’s as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day. Reminds me of […]
From Br. Joseph — This is the fourth reflection on seven signposts for the season of Lent (and for all seasons). Signposts give us direction. They point to some place. They involve action, movement. Many signposts call us to remember something important, some thing that is already there but is often covered up by the […]
I pulled into an isolated parking spot overlooking the lake. I had been given the precious gift of a couple dozens of minutes of solitude—the absence of the need to be somewhere or by someone. I chose to be quiet and pray and reflect. It was warm enough to roll down the car window to […]
From Thursday’s collect in Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours (emphasis added): My mind is scattered among things, not because of my work, but because I am not detached and I do not attend first of all to God. On the other hand, I do not attend to Him because I am so absorbed in […]
Signposts point to where we want to go. Follow, or don’t follow. There are seven signposts listed below because seven is the number of completeness. No claim of originality is made for the signs, excerpt maybe for their grouping. Keep hope alive. Dare to trust. Surrender to grace. • • • Reflect love. • • […]
From Br. Joseph — All is gift. Even your next breath is gift if you think about. Everything involves a choice, especially how we spend our time. Is it our time or God’s time? Here is a reflection/prayer on time from Michael Quoist: I went out, Lord. People were coming and going, Walking and running. […]
From Br. Joseph — At some point in every faith journey, one finds him or her self taking an inventory of their core, central beliefs. Some of these beliefs are held very tightly, some loosely. The more central a belief, the more one aligns his or her identity. Paula D’Arcy describes her seven central beliefs […]
Thomas Keating, in Manifesting God, says: “Worthiness is not the issue.” Get over it. Stop projecting your own self-esteem issues onto God. God is God, not the god you make Him out to be. The Gospel is not about earning the love of God because we already have it. It is a matter of receiving […]
From Br. Joseph — Meister Eckhart, a 14th century German mystic, once wrote, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” From Ronald Rolheiser’s book, The Shattered Lantern: The original sin of Adam and Eve, the prototype of all sin, is presented as a failure […]
The term Body of Christ means three things: 1) the actual physical body of Jesus; 2) the Church (with a capital “C”) because we as individual persons are church, parts of the Body, branches on the Vine; and 3) the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament. (Note: Some believers have issues with the third one. There is a plausible explanation […]
I was talking with an older friend whose wife is the middle of battling the second stage of a debilitating disease. They chose to adopt two children years ago instead of passing this 50-50 chance, hereditary disease on to the next generation. Early in their marriage, he witnessed his mother-in-law progress through the disease that […]
From Reference.com: The most common translation of Pantocrator is “Almighty” or “All-powerful.” In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek words for “all” and the noun “strength” (κρατος). This is often understood in terms of potential power; i.e., able to do anything, or omnipotentent. Another, less literal translation is “Ruler of […]
The word sacrifice tends to carry a negative feel to it when stressing the idea of giving up something. But if I look beyond this negative, there is also an implied sense of hope, that is, in my giving up something, someone else gains. That is an act of love. I can view sacrifice as […]
At the end of the movie, American Beauty, the main character Lester Burnham reflects on his life: …there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax, […]
All is truly gift. So if there’s anything I’ve learned From this journey I am on Simple truths will keep you going Simple love will keep you strong Cause there are questions without answers Flames that never die Heartaches we go through are often blessings in disguise So thank you Lord, oh thank you Lord […]
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote a wonderful little book called You, which is really about us and our relationship with God. Although the cultural references are a little dated, here is a cursory explanation, sprinkled with golden nuggets of insight, of why we worship God. If you are a father, do you not like to […]