Wednesday Day 6, Octave of Christmas

Gospel
LUKE 2:36-40

There was a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow, until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.

The stories of Simeon and Anna are difficult to look at separately. Both of them played a role in proclaiming the Godship of the boy Jesus. Both were fixtures in the Temple. Neither of them was well know nor did they come from a lofty position in society. They were simply people of faith who happened to pop up in a specific moment in a very specific place where they could occupy a curious place in history. Why are they paired in the narrative? Balance. The best stories are about pairs of people sharing their experience. In the first two chapters of Luke, we have three such pairs. Joseph and Mary. Mary and Elizabeth and finally Simeon and Anna.

Just who was Anna? Scripture tells us she was an 84 year widow who all but lived at the temple. When we think about the vastness of Temple and throngs of people who would enter and leave the Temple every would likely not paid her any mind. She was old, a widow and a woman so she would have been up so low stature she did warrant any attention. How is it her story when paired with Simeon was so significant to be memorialized by the most often read book in human history. 

During my years at the Cathedral, I came to know many women much like Anna. Many of them sat in the same seat at Mass day after day. Some of them sat separately keeping themselves apart from others while others sat in small groups with others similar to themselves. Unless you were looking for them, they tended to be invisible. When you saw them, it was usually only to recognize they were occupying a seat so you needed to keep looking for a space to sit. They were largely anonymous and kept a low profile.

As a reader and a eucharistic minister I had the opportunity to make eye contact with them and they with me. Over time I came to know many of them and as the weeks and months passed by they became less shy and more talkative. When I took the time to engage them I experienced a simple, deep and abiding faith that contrasted my own active, questioning search for understanding. When one of them passed into glory, it was often my privilege to serve at their funeral. I came to understand that prophecy is not as much as predicting the future as it is about proclaiming the truth. 

Anna from the temple spoke to others about the child Jesus to those who were waiting for the good news. The Anna's from the Cathedral can also be found in almost any other parish as well. The faith they display in the risen Christ speaks to us with clarity if we chose to stop and listen. They bear testimony to the good new Anna promised. 

Pray for our Anna's. They deserve our support. 

Wednesday - Advent Week 4

Gospel

LUKE 1:57-66

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son.  Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.”  But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. 

Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

Question

What does it mean to say Jesus himself is the new temple?

Reflection

From the beginning of revelation, mankind in general and Old Testament Hebrew times thought and prayed spiritually but expected answers that were physical in form. Good health, freedom from bondage, wealth enough to comfortable or safety from enemies. The temple built by the ancients and rebuilt Herod served as a physical reflection of God on earth. It was where the holy of holies was held in solemn separation. The prayers of sabbath and ritual were sang within the temple. The economic engine of Israel hummed within the walls of the temple because of the need for money changers and purveyors of sacrificial holocausts. The temple is where the heart and soul of Judaism resided. Destruction of the temple the first time was catastrophic and it took centuries for the Jews to recover and reconstruct what was lost and ironically the temple that existed in the first century had been rebuilt by Herod, a faux Jew detested by the population. 

Jesus was the new temple, a human connection to the divine where true spirituality existed. The temple of Jesus is timeless, perfect and enduring. In him is the completion and fulfillment of all things but the buying and selling of goods for sacrifice ended and what was asked for by God was conversion of the heart and soul that in turn changed to focus from the things of passing value to the priceless pearls of salvation. All humans are welcome in the temple with the only price for entry being desire. 

Wednesday - Advent Week 3

Gospel

LUKE 7:18B-23

At that time, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” 

When the men came to the Lord, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”

At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. And Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight,  the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

Question

What does this gospel say about the importance of the physical as well as the Spiritual in God's eye?

Reflection

The question is a little scary for me. Yes, Jesus was all about physical healing but he used physical healing as a means of calling attention to and providing legitimacy to his core teachings. Scripture reveals to us everyone to whom he offered healing was healed. Without exception. This was the message sent to John, Jesus was the real deal. He healed the human body, the human heart, and the human soul. Jesus was not a magician or wizard. He did not ask for payment or try to sell potions or pills. When he offered to heal he did not say "Go forth, your sight has been restored." Instead, he said, "Go forth, your sins have been forgiven" or "Your faith has healed you." His focus was not on a withered hand but was on the withered heart of the person with the withered hand. 

What makes me nervous is that while the physical is important, after all, we must be able to grow, learn, share, and offer our gifts of service using the physical charisma blessed on us. He offered miracles as a sign of His identity to those he encountered while he walked the land of Israel. Today we don't need to have miracles to call him to us. We know Him. He knows us. We know what he wants for us but what we don't know with certainty how to follow the plan he has for us. 

Today we can pray for healing of illness, restoration of function, or some other physical outcome but there is no guarantee the prayer will be answered affirmatively. Miracles happen all around us but it is not for us to understand where the miracles come and when the cry for a miracle will be answered differently from what we have in mind. 

It is the nature of humanity after the fall that randomness and free will brings good health and bad. There is no certainty of miracles but there is a certainty whatever happens to us will offer us opportunities to follow his will. We are not taught to pray for the miracle but for the strength to bear burdens we have encountered and the wisdom to learn what lessons we are to learn from them. An extreme example was Lazarus who died and was buried long enough for a great stink to come on him before he was called out of the tomb. It was a miracle to be sure but Lazarus eventually died a second time and had to wait to be called into the presence of God just as we all do.

We can be sure of this. If we believe and act on our belief by professing faith, we will be forgiven and we will be called into his presence after physical death. The message is the body is temporary but the soul is eternal. That is the certain thing. 

In the end, we are reminded that we both a soul with a body and a body with a soul. Someday we will be reunited body and soul when we are glorified as Jesus was glorified. As all of these things come to mind, peace returns and my anxiety has faded. God loves us body and soul.

Sunday Advent - Week 3

Gospel

JOHN 1:6-8, 19-28


A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light so that all might believe through him. He was not the light but came to testify to the light.

And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?”

He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”

So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?”

He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’” as Isaiah the prophet said.” 

Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Question: 

The question from Bishop Baron: What is different about Jesus that sets him apart from just another teacher, prophet, or seer?

Reflection:

The first word that comes to mind is "Completion." A second word is a "Fulfillment." In first-century Palestine, there was a prophet, teacher, or seer behind every rock. It was a time of growing and universal sense of time of great change. The various self-called messengers each had a different message and offered a wide variety of promises. 

Only John is mentioned in Scripture because his ministry pointed the way to Christ. John was the last prophet because he directly pointed to Jesus who was the completion of all that had been prophesied before. Jesus is a prophet but he fulfills his prophecy for himself.  He is a teacher but what he teaches is the nature of himself as the Son of God. He is a seer who sees a future transformed by his death and resurrection. He is the left hand and the right hand. He is the beginning and the end and beginning after the end. 

I suggested two words in the first paragraph but we can add adjective after adjective, noun after noun, or description after description until we run out of words and finally come to realize, grasp and embrace that he is not just words but he is the "Word" and through Him, all things will come to be now and forever. 

Advent week 2 Wednesday

Gospel

Mt 11:28-30
Jesus said to the crowds:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Reflection

The question from Bishop Barron:
Being yoked to Christ means we turn all control of our lives over to him. can you do that? Do you want to?

Oh, yes. I want to turn control over to Him to be freed from the tyranny of self, the little jealousies, hurts, desires, and impulses that plague my days despite strengthening spiritual practices aimed at creating free spaces in my essence where the truth and the word can seep in and fill even the smallest of margins, where e can be more and I will be less

When Christ to the crowds, he was referring to the burden of Pharisee dominated interpretation of the law. There was no freedom to chose or evaluate the choices of even the smallest measure. The offer was to lay down all of that burden, the overwhelming demands of the law to take up only two rules. One, to love God and the other to love your neighbor as yourself.

That gives us the freedom to chose how to serve those two laws. Is it to be of community service? Is it to be available to listen to a brother with a wounded heart? Is it to honor your family as Jesus honors us? Is it to be a good example for others? The list of questions goes on and on to a point beyond 7x7 or 49x49. There is no limit to what we can do that reflects the spirit of the Lord working on, in, and through our beings.

Can I yield complete control? For a moment, yes. Do I want to? Yes, every time the question is posed to me or if I think of it. In this matter, however, there is like all other issues of faith and belief, only progress and not perfection.

Advent - Week 2 Sunday

Gospel
MK 1:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.

A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. 

And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Reflection:

The question today is: "How does believing Jesus Christ is Lord affect your opinions about the leaders of the world?"

Now here is a toughy. It is hard for me to address this question without giving way to bitterness and anger. It would be all to easy to sound off against both the incoming and outgoing presidents. I could easily verbally light up any ship carrying Trudeau, Johnson, Macron and just about any other leader including the Prime Minister of New Zealand. I would also torch the leadership in Holland where the fine line between assisted suicide and involuntary euthanasia is quickly being erased. How about in Oregon where a person with terminal cancer is denied treatment that is considered experimental but is, instead, offered the option of assisted suicide. 

I have stop here and bring myself back from the cliff and remind myself that political leaders are not religious leaders and cannot be trusted on to make decisions based upon moral truths. For that matter I can't trust myself to make the right decision on such matters on a consistent basis during the course of the day. 

Israel begged for a king. They got one and it the eventual outcome was disastrous. What if we were to magically evolve to a faith based leadership. Who would we trust to put in charge? The same bishops who buried decades of horror until the Holy Spirit refused to allow to allow the evil stay locked upon behind chancery doors? That is not the answer either. 

I believe that Jesus would remind us to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and give unto God what is God's. Our leaders cannot create the kingdom of God despite their insistence that can do so or, worse yet, insist they are not responsible for helping with the creation. The best we can expect is they won't get in the way of those of us who might follow the gospel as Jesus would have us do.   

Advent Week 1 - Thursday

Gospel
MT 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

Reflection:

Here is the question posed by Bishop Barron for the day:

"On what, precisely, is the whole of your life built? Is your foundation strong and solid?"

I wish it were possible to say in response, "I was confirmed into the church on May 20, 1973 and from that day to to this, I have lived my life in harmony with the gospels, with total obedience and a unwavering faith." The truth is no one can make such a claim. We don't have the luxury of only having to lay the foundation once and that build up a towering spire over the course of our lives.

Instead we have to begin again each day. There is no guarantee the work we did yesterday or over the last week is still steady and still. The Lord, for his part, is still there and is ever ready for us to lay down our burden of rock and pain and to great us reward for our effort but we are not so dependable.

Some days we build a good structure, tall and straight that rises several story high. Other days we are lost to the flood of uncertainty and we fail to build something of value. Overtime we can become more adept at using faith to help keep our days centered and on him and filled with good things that honor his expectations of us.

Today started well enough but this afternoon ill winds of my own making have pushed against my work and there is some unsteadiness to the structure.

I pause to reflect on the importance of building with faith.

Advent - Week 1 Wednesday

Gospel
MT 15:29-37

At that time:
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,
went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,
and many others.
They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,
the deformed made whole,
the lame walking,
and the blind able to see,
and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
for they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
I do not want to send them away hungry,
for fear they may collapse on the way.”
The disciples said to him,
“Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place
to satisfy such a crowd?”
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,
gave thanks, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

Reflection:

Bishop Barron asks: 

"Do you notice any change in your life when you don't receive communion for awhile? "

This publication was planned long before Corona 19 was a thing. The reflections come from homilies given by the Bishop over a period of years. The question posed could have no way presaged the events of this year so the impact of the question could never have been anticipated. Within 3 weeks of the shutdown, I had gone the longest period of time without attending mass since conversion to the faith. From that day forward, we are in unknown lands. I never conceived there would come a time when the norm for us sitting in front of a TV screen watching a life streamed or recorded Mass where we can participate only virtually in the liturgy of the Eucharist. I have received the body in hand perhaps 5 times in 8 months and given the current spirally numbers of infection, it may be months more before I can again receive in person. 

There is great value, I have learned, however, in watching while in a proper disposition while Father Jeff Fleming prays an entire Mass without another person present. I gain comfort watching the Mass life streamed from Mt. Angel Abbey and there is real mystery from watching a Mass "As Gaeilge"  from Glenstal Abbey in Ireland. These are worship and celebration opportunities that would have never occurred to me as being normal ways to spend Sunday morning. 

The thing is, the decision to stay home on Sunday is mine to make. I am not forced to take these options but the church has deemed it wise to make in person attendance optional but then to make other avenues of participation possible. 

What we have now is not perfect but just as the earliest Christians had to be creative to celebrate the eucharist, we are now called upon to do the same. I don't like it. No one does. I am, however, grateful to be in communion if if I am not at Holy communion. 

Advent, Week 1 - Sunday

Prologue 

It has been 6 months since my last entry. I intended to take 2-3 months off before getting back into a regular spiritual reflection practice. I let acedia get in the away. Since we are now in the period of "mini-Lent" we call Advent, it is time to saddle up and ride again. My intent will be post twice a week. Once on Sunday and then again on Wednesday for my Perkins 4th day brothers. Gitti-up. 

Gospel
MK 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

Reflection:

Bishop Barron poses this question: 

In what ways are you "sleeping" and not being "watchful" for the end, either your won death or the Second Coming? 

There are few among us who are not both "sleeping" and "watchful." We have been faithful to the Mass until the pandemic flipped our lives upside down and for the first time in who knows how long we were given exemption from the requirement to attend Mass on Sundays. Who knew on Easter Sunday infection rates and deaths would still be be rising as we enter into Advent? Who knew that our 4th day and other prayer groups would be forced from gatherings around the table to gathering in front of screen? I have to confess that not only did my practice of weekly mass fall by the wayside, but I fell out of the habit of the Liturgy of the Hours and Lection Divina. It seems that many of my years long devotional practices went out the window because of the changes caused by working from home and the move.

I was clearly more in the sleep state than I was wakeful. In recent weeks, however, I have begun to climb back up the ladder. I tune into virtual mass more often and pay close attention to the liturgies. I adopt the postures of the mass and recite the prayers and responses. The eucharist is missing but a sense of communion has returned. I am praying the hours again and walking daily with my senses invested in creation with thanksgiving and gratitude. I am waking up again. the world is different. I am different. Our liturgy is different. God is the same.

In pinch myself and whisper "Watch!"

Silence, Solitude and Stillness

An invitation…..

 

Mark 6:30-31

 

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.

 

The words silence, solitude, and stillness are not complicated. Silence, a time or place of quiet or calm. Solitude, a place of separation and aloneness. Finally, there is stillness, a place of repose, and restlessness. They describe places that are inviting and call out to us in the noise and chaos of the tumbling hours of our days.

 

This view, however, is overly simplistic. Each word is multidimensional and within the span of the meaning of each there lies contradiction. Silence is a privileged choice or it is toxic wounding. We can choose silence or we can be silenced, one is holy and the other poisonous to us.

 

Solitude can be something different than a place of comfort, it can be a choice like a walk in along a wooded path or sitting  on hillside offering a wide panorama of a wild place. It can also be an unchosen place of loneliness and isolation.

 

We wish to embrace stillness as a sanctuary of placidness and calm. Stillness is also a word for lifelessness, or it can describe when we are becalmed by a failed evening breeze and we can't reach our desperately sought destination.

 

There is another perspective as well. We talk of inner silence, solitude, and stillness but more often we think of external places of these things where there is no noise, no crowds, or agitation.

 

In reality, places of total silence, solitude, and stillness are hard to find and if we find them we experience them as emptiness rather than fullness of spirit. When we speak of Silence what we actually speak of is a place free from irritation and distraction rather than being a vacuum empty of sound that exists in the vastness of space. When I seek silence what I am really looking for is a place to ignore interruptions and distractions. A place of silence for me could be standing knee-deep in rushing water that is so noisy I can't hear the sound of cars passing by on a nearby roadway or it might be when I focus on the sounds of the wind and birds and let the distractions of a barking dog not pull me away from the quiet.

 

As I am editing and honing this reflection, my son and daughter in law are banging things and running power tools while laying flooring in our new home. It is far from silent and yet I can let my own words pull me away from the present moment to where the sounds of nature, a breeze in the cottonwood trees, a lone Canadian Goose sailing overhead unseen against the darkened sky but clearly heard anyway.

 

Solitude is not about being alone but is more about finding a place of complacency in the presence of others. It is being able to tune out the cacophony whether it is my wife doing dishes or my neighbor trimming the hedge. To be in solitude is to be alone with your private thoughts while the hubbub of others goes on and on around you.

 

Finally, stillness. To find stillness is the hardest thing of all for me because it requires me to calm myself, to find a patient, measured breathing rhythm that will allow me to literally to will my heart rate to slow so I can focus in on one thing rather than a kaleidoscope fractured images and issues.

 

It is easy to understand the inner place of quiet of calm is most easily accessible in places of quiet, separation and peace but Meister Eckert states it is important we be able to access the quietest of places in the noisiest of times because that is when we need refuge most.

 

Over the past few months, I have made a practice of attempting to sink into contemplation in the most unlikely of places. In the waiting room of my dentist or doctor. Sitting at a railroad crossing waiting for a slowly rolling train ease to a stop and then painfully begin backing the other direction. Recently it has been a challenge to back away from the falls while standing in line at a home improvement store. While I have improved, the turmoil and upside-down nature of the world over the past 10 weeks has caused me to let go of some my good habits and slide back into some less fruitful ones that I had previously pushed away.

 

There is too much here to cover in just one reflection. It will take some time to cover each of the three characteristics and it important that while we are looking Celtic Spiritual practices, we are all about tying the practices to our Catholic and Christian faith. We are not pagans meditating and contemplating a non-responsive void, we are Christians who believe in a revealed God, a resurrected savior, and an ever-present, ever-loving Holy Spirit. The practices lead us into a relationship that is constantly nourished and sustained by our faith in his response to our prayer.

 

Let's begin with this thought from Meister Eckhart, "There is nothing so much like God in all the universe as silence." We are called to become more like God, to emulate the father in the prodigal son. To be the good shepherd to the family and friends that surround us. We can't become like those things until we are first silent so we can hear him as his words echo softly in the deepest corners of our being.

 

In another sermon the good Meister wrote "Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness." At first, I thought he was saying the same thing about stillness as he did silence but there is a difference. During the first 6 days, God created all there was to create but it was not until the 7th day that he paused, reflected and celebrated the work of the first 6 days. Created in his image, we can most closely seek to be like him when we choose the quiet.

 

The summary of Eckhart is that to enter into silence, solitude and stillness is the only way we can offer ourselves to the presence of God and be present in God. Turn off the music and TV. Put down the magazines and books. Sit quietly and turn away from distractions and other things around you. Breath in and out slowly. Be still. God fills the voids and rewards us with what he chooses based upon on what we need most whether or not we know it.

 

Let's close with this short quote from my hero John O'Donohue, "To return back into ourselves, there are three things needed, for which you don't require a computer, television or radio: the first is a bit of stillness. Nothing can happen without a certain stillness. We also need silence. There is nothing so vocal and articulate as silence; all good language, all great words, are born of it. And the third thing we need is solitude. We need to acknowledge that solitude is an invitation to the soul to come alive. Solitude is utterly luminous if we lose our fears and begin to enter it more deeply."

Foghlaim de Chroí - Learning by Heart

Jeremiah 31:31-34

See, days are coming—oracle of the LORD—when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master—oracle of the LORD. But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days—oracle of the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will no longer teach their friends and relatives, “Know the LORD!” Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me—oracle of the LORD—for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jABcYKhDrI

Jesus loves me this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong

They are weak but He is strong

Yes, Jesus loves me

Yes, Jesus loves me

Yes Jesus loves me,

for the Bible tells me so

This beginning no doubt have you really wondering where we are going today. What has a 160 year old poem written to comfort a dying child which was shortly thereafter turned into a wildly popular Protestant hymn loved around the world got to do with a mature group of Catholic guys taking a turn looking at Celtic Christian spiritual practices? The answer is it has everything to do with learning by heart. My grandmother taught it to me as a small boy and, in turn, my mother taught it to my boys. I hope to teach it to my granddaughter even if I have to do it on the sly. Where we are going to do is to understand how this simple little song makes a profound statement about learning by heart. The memories associated with this song compiled over 60 years don't live in my mind. They are etched into my heart.

When we talk of things learned by heart, we usually think in terms of rote memorization like the poetry we were required to cite in 6th grade. After 50 plus years all I can remember are a few lines. Here is one by Frost:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Then this one by Noyes:

And the highwayman came riding—

 Riding—riding—

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

Beautiful poems, both of them, chock full of beautiful imagery and intent and yet they are largely lost in the dark tunnels of past time and yet the little song about the love of Jesus is there on the tip of my tongue ready to roll out when I have the thought to sing it. The Frost poem was particularly important to me at one time but I no longer understand why except to think I might have fancied I was called to take the less-traveled road. This is something that time has revealed to not be in my nature. Taking the less traveled road would leave unprotected from the lions and tigers eagerly awaiting my arrival if I were to foolishly start down that road.

We already intuitively understand that knowledge resides in our heads and wisdom lives in our hearts because that is where God records all things that he wants us to know. Recall the words of Jeremiah, "I will place my law within them and write it upon our hearts." When we speak from the heart or listen from the heart we communicate from the place where our divine souls and our human existence meet, unite and our eternal and temporal essence flows through a threshold of God's design.

Over the years we have been together, I have built up a large store of things written upon my heart. The words to describe what has inscribed are many, so many they don't form sentences but they bubble around in a pot filled with emotion, love, shared experience, service, support, sorrow, and gladness. Each of you has, at times, spoken prophecy mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians. We have shared the word, meaning, and intent of the risen Lord week by week, month by month and year by year so we have an endless store of memories recorded where when we leave this place and this world, we will be able to take those things of essence with us. The soul never forgets what is laid

down in the heart and it will pick up every little thing it finds and give all back to God with gratitude.

I don't need to tell you to seek to learn by heart. You already know that and live like you know that. The only difference is now you might have a different understanding of what it means to learn by Heart. I do.

Thank you. I take all of you and all we mean to each other with me. I love all of you in ways I can't describe but you already knew that and the knowledge resides in your hearts.

Ag Siúl na Mbabhtaí

The seventh Celtic practice is the ancient form of prayer called Walking the Rounds. Think, for a moment, about the common elements in most Celtic symbols. Most often the circles are not always round but are always circuitous, starting in one place and winding around in a predictable design l eventually returning to the starting point. If you follow the path that brings you back to the start, you have the first ingredient of how to Walk the Rounds.

Traditionally, Walking the Rounds took one around a sacred or holy place, a place with significance like a graveyard or holy well. There is another interesting addition that holds the walk must always be in a clockwise direction so that the walk always follows the path of the sun. This is something new to me but it makes perfect sense when you consider that the Celts always sought to be in step with nature. To go with the sun is to keep the light in front of you to shine on your journey and if the sun is the center of all things, you are aligned with the center of all creation.

This might be interesting to hear about but it does not seem to have much of consequence to us today. Why would this be a practice of use to us in our modern spiritual practice? Walking in a circle seems pointless if we think our mission is to get from one place to another. A journey has to have a purpose, a destination, right? Otherwise why bother leaving? How many times do we have to be reminded it is all about the journey? The destination is no place we can reach during human years but we keep deluding ourselves into thinking we can choose where we go when in fact we can only choose the direction.

Remember the Holiness talk? To be holy requires only that we turn to God and orient ourselves to go towards Him. It is what we do on the voyage and the character of our travel that is important. We can choose how we travel.

Instead of scripture reading for today the lyrics of an old Harry Chapin song haunt my thoughts so I will share the words with you.

All my life's a circle;

Sunrise and sundown;

Moon rolls through the nighttime;

'Til the daybreak comes around.

All my life's a circle;

But I can't tell you why;

Season's spinning round again;

The years keep rollin' by.

It seems like I've been here before;

I can't remember when;

But I have this funny feeling;

That we'll all be together again.

No straight lines make up my life;

And all my roads have bends;

There's no clear-cut beginnings;

And so far no dead-ends.

He hit the nail on the head.  No straight lines make up our lives, all of our roads have bends and we have no clear cut beginning or end.

When we walk around a holy place, we always come back to where we began but it is never the same place. The circle is really a spiral goes round and round but sometimes we are higher up or further down but never back to the exact same place.

Still, where are we going with this that is relevant for today? Let's revisit the journey around a holy center. What are we do when we discern? We consider something of importance, significance, something that might even change the arc of our lives. The process causes us to travel around what is being discerned, to examine it from all sides. If we are in true discernment, we make a journey around several times and we continue until we have seen the decision from every side.

We can walk the rounds around many things, some important, others not so much but others of life-altering importance. As we walk God accompanies us and he does so without bidding but there is no value unless we remind ourselves we walk in his presence and to ask for his help. Following the sun reminds us to walk in the light he shines for us. It illuminates our path as we make our way around until we see what we are intended to see and our discernment is complete.

The idea of circles is nothing new to us. Think of encircling prayer. Walking the rounds is really to walk in prayer, everything comes together in completion that has no real beginning or end.

The beauty of this is that we can physically and spiritually walk the rounds and one will support the other. How many times have we taken a walk when making a difficult decision. For me the number is without measure. 

Paidir Timpeall

Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross
[through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven.

In the middle of the passage, this line casually slides by almost unnoticed: He is before all things and in all things hold together. When we think of a circle, we think of it is as existing only on one plane but our existence is not confined to one level as if we were stand in the middle of a circle painted on the ground.

Imagine, if you will, a ball. There are 360 circles that comprise that ball so the center of the ball is completely surrounded. No matter which direction you travel, you will always intersect the outer limit of the circle. There is no escape, everything is within the circle of circles. Christ is the force that holds the circle together for we read that in him all things hold together.

What is outside the circle? He is. He is before all things so he is in the circle and outside it as well. He is, we know every where. Said another way, there is no where he is not.

Encircling prayer is prayer that calls on God to surround to us in protection and support. This is an ancient idea of the Pre-christian Celts who say themselves as totally enveloped in creation. When they converted to Christianity, the concept of being encircled came right along with them. There is, of course, a prayer we all know from the tradition of St. Patrick.

An abridged version prays like this:

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when stand.
Christ when I arise
I arise today
Through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

We learn from this prayer that we are not just surrounded by Christ, we are engulfed in him and he is above, below and beside is in all directions at all times. We are wrapped up in him, completely sheltered from harm. These view lines are just a short list of all of the thing from which we are protected. The whole prayer runs about 75 lines. Even just praying these lines gives someone like me who wakes each day on the Serengeti surround by hungry lions wondering if I should be running or hiding, this prayer is very comforting.

We live today in a totally alien time. Our daily lives have been flipped upside down and former patterns have been shattered. I never dreamed that the person I pass by on the way to the pharmacy might have just sneezed and in so doing volatilized a million burr shaped ghouls that might just sneak into my nose or mouth putting me on a collision course with a potentially moral illnesses. How about this for another pleasant thought. After I have been exposed but before I showed symptoms, I push open a door at the gas station and the person right behind me puts their hand on the exact some spot? Ugh.

The imagery of being totally surrounded by God's love and protection is beyond comforting. It is soul sustaining. We know that no matter what happens, we will be protected from the virus and even if we contract it and the worst comes to pass, Christ is there to save us from eternal death because of his death and resurrection for our very souls. Christ is everywhere and there is no nowhere. If things are not alright, they will still end up alright. No matter what.

• I arise every day through his mighty strength. We all do.
• 
  
• Your assignment this week? Share this prayer with one other person.

Anam Cara - Anam Chairde

Genesis 2:7-9, 15-25

Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils, the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him. So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name. The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man.

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman. 

Reflection
When God created us, we were created with a need to belong. In the creation story of Genesis, man had everything but a companion so he was lonely. God saw that it was not right for Adam to be alone so he created a woman out his rib. Because both Man and Woman were created from the same clay, we are the same as each other. Within in us, despite, or in spite of, all else, to be alone is not enough. We were created to belong and the longing is more ancient our understanding of our nature. We were not created to be alone. That is why we long from deep down inside our being where no one or no thing can touch except for the Divine

While we may crave solitude, silence, and stillness, the fact is we are still called to belong and we all must retreat from the quiet places of seclusion we might find comforting to seek the company of the others. We are drawn to each other. We need each other. We seek a friendship that extends beyond the trivialities of the shallow interactions of the cascade of days we call life to a land where we are known, loved, accepted and we can return all of those same things to another. If we are denied either the chance to accept or extend the grace of knowing and belonging , we will burst and then sink into a lost state or will never become who we are meant to be.

When we find the friend who offers these things, we have what the Irish call an Anam Cara, a soul friend, a person in whom we can completely yield our deepest needs concerns, fears and stories we suspect and fear will turn others against us if they knew what festered beneath the façade of our daily faces. We are at home in the friendship and we can abandon our anxiety in the friendship regardless of whether the duration is brief or lifelong. Time is not an element we use to define an Anam Cara.

When we marry, we expect our mate to be an Anam Cara. It is a natural outgrowth of a sacramentally blessed relationship but the idea of Anam Cara extends far beyond our spouses. The people we need to become an Anam Cara can come from anywhere. They can be close to us or simply important to us. We can have broad relationships that span time and place or they can be serendipitous, here one moment and gone the next. An Anam Cara is in the Now and the Now can be sustained for a lifetime, a few years or it may just simply one encounter that changed the Now from what it was to what it needed to be.

My purpose, other than to prompt each other to wonder who in our life may be or may have been our own Anam Cara, is to push your thinking beyond a single friend to think about the possibility of  encountering and embracing soul friends, Anam Cairde.

Colossians 3:12-14

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.

Paul offers us a good image of what it means to be a friend. More than that, he is giving us sitting around this virtual table a set of instructions on how we are to carry out our friendship and, over the years, we have done just that.

We here are a "Ciorcal de Chairde Anam," a circle of soul friends.

I first dreamt this reflection when Covid 19 was just another threat out there that seemed to be no more a thing than SARS, the swine flu or the bird flu. There was great wailing and gnashing of teeth but whatever came of those illnesses seemed to have happened to others in other places but they never infected us or anyone we knew. We shrugged off the possibilities and dire warnings to just about our business as if there were no threat at all. Covid 19, we collectively agreed, would surely follow the same path.We were wrong. Horribly wrong. 

In between the time I initially finished the reflection and when we were scheduled to meet at Perkins at 7 on Wednesday March 18 to share these ideas of spirituality, as we have for the past decade, the world changed dramatically and permanently. A barbarian virus slipped in between the cracks of the castle walls, windows and doors and began to wreak havoc. 5 weeks later there is no real clue when we might return to normal.

Here is a truth. The old normal is gone and will never return. What has happened in the last month is I have had time to reflect on what I had taken for granted. Showing up at Perkins and teasing Dan for being late or digging at smiley Chris for petting his beard like it was tame weasel is just a memory. So is getting my feathers ruffled by a co-worker, drawing mystical cards and playing poker on breaks. When we come back together, if we do, we will be different because as the Resurrection revealed Jesus in a new way, our resurrection from this chaos will reveal us to each other in a new way. A new normal will emerge.

More importantly, however, is that I miss the little embraces and encounters with those who play the role of Anam Cara in my life. I don't need to call you out by name. You know who you are and I love you for your gifts and strength. I also mourn even more the opportunity to be an Anam Cara to those whom I am an Anam Cara and those whom I am unwittingly serving. To receive the grace of friendship renews us but to share that same grace of being a friend is how we sustain the souls we inhabit.

Our challenge today and in coming days is to review our current and past lives to see where we were graced by the influence of an Anam Cara. We next might consider those for whom we have been graced with the blessing of being an Anam Cara.

Pray with gratitude for God to send blessings to all those we name in the quiet of our hearts.

I offer blessings of friendship and love to all of you who read this in equal measure to what I receive and I am gifted with more than I can comprehend. 

Is tú mo Anam chairde. Beannachtaí na Cásca oraibh go léir -

You are my soul friends. Easter Blessings to you all.

From Sacraments to Grace to Blessings

In completing a talk about the sacraments, I found myself wandering from the path to think about how Sacraments are also sacramental moments when we see sacraments at work. As I continued I came to see there is a connection between sacraments and my understanding Blessings gleaned from my study were connected. Perhaps I can take you down the same path to arrive at the same conclusion. Let's see.  

We should begin with a Sacraments. The number of sacraments varies by denomination. Our church has 7. Most protestant churches have 2, baptism and holy communion. The orthodox church goes over the top with the same 7 we have but they also have established a number of things that are minor sacraments. These things are actions we consider to be sacramentals like praying the rosary. St. Augustine was sacramental machine defining, if I remember correctly, a couple of hundred or more.

Why are there are so many differences? We can look first to the definition of a sacrament which is a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward working of grace or blessing flowing from Christ. Grace, of course, is something that is not defined to being available to us only through the ritual of a sacrament. It is ever present in all times and places and is not something we earn or deserve. Grace is ours whether we want it or not. If this this true, sacraments are only one of potentially many means of grace for us to enjoy, receive and share. Grace is the key.

As I wandered further down the path away from the strict definition of sacrament, I came to see that is possible to identify other means of grace in which we are changed by the encounter with the grace given in the moment. These are sacramental moments which came to us as a surprise. We might also think of these as sacred moments when we are connected to God in some way. These are not things we can usually plan for anticipate. Sometimes we can place ourselves where we might be able to live sacramentally.

It came to me that all of the times that I have written about sacramental moments, they are associated with beauty which in and of itself is one of our greatest gifts. I can’t begin to count the number of times I have stood in the current of stream and been mesmerized by the flow swirling and running past me, feeling the power against my legs. There are those electric moments when I become connected to fish but most of the time I can be overwhelmed just by present and being mindful of the need for presence. It is the beauty I see that moves me. God only needed to provide us with function. Appreciation of form is a bonus.

Beauty is not just about sunrises, storm clouds, rainbows, mountains, fields of ripening wheat or even the in the awe of our cathedral. It is deeper than the physical manifestation of creation of which the enjoyment is something that makes us different than the rest of creation. It is not even really related to the beauty men have for any particular woman. Instead it is about the grace that is shared back with us by those blessed with the ability to receive and give the grace available to them. Think of Pope Francis or Saint John Paul II. How about Mother Teresa? I am going to stretch you a little with this. How about the Dalai Lama or Gandhi. Beauty is not limited by creed or anything else. Beauty exists where beauty exists and it is up to us find it.

Beauty is grace. Grace is beauty.

How can we cultivate our opportunities to embrace beauty? By first taking the time to look. If there is one thing I have learned over my time as a budding but clumsy mystic is the first step is to simply look.

In my readings about Celtic Spirituality, something became lodged in my conscious. If you reach out to offer a blessing, you are returned a blessing. If I bless the fire of the sun, I am blessed with an ability to see what I could not see before. This is true of everything including the on the earth, in the sky and in the water.

Beauty is grace, grace is gift we given freely. Blessings come because we earn them by offering them.

What struck me as I was writing this as my wife was preparing dinner that relationships are fueled by blessings given and received. A blessing shared activates the Holy Spirit to operate through grace to bring fruit to blessed and the one who blesses.

I am trying to learn to offer blessings in the manner of the Irish monks of old who processed through life from one blessing to the next. Just think of the comfort and joy we might encounter by letting the blessings of God flow back to us through his constant grant of grace.

I offer this to you.

May The Light Of Your Soul Guide You, by John O’Donohue

May the light of your soul guide you.
May the light of your soul bless the work
You do with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light and renewal to those
Who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in the bland absences.
May the day never burden you.
May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams,
Possibilities and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.
May your soul calm, console and renew you.

2/19/20 Aisling

 Dreams.

Dreams are an integral part of Celtic Spirituality. Dreams are twins, dreams that come by day are visions. Both are gateways into the divine, places we can't visit without imagination, places we must visit to work on those things we can't approach consciously.

Dream and Vision. Aisling augus Fís

I rarely remember my dreams more than an instant after I wake up. Even if I were to have pen and paper next to the bed, the dreams would be gone before I could turn on the light and blink my vision into focus. I don't mean to imply I don't dream because I do and I am aware every morning I experienced dreams during the night. I can often times remember a topic or theme but the details are simply missing. 

I would like to think I am having dreams we hear about in popular culture. Would it not be grand to wake in the morning to the vivid memory of standing knee deep in a river and casting a fly to a large willing fish? How about a dream of watching the sun melt in the western horizon leaving behind a glassy orange, gold and yellow cast on waves lapping at the edge of the world? How about to young again and to be standing hand in hand with your best girl gazing out off a towering cliff that is being pounded by angry waves driven by a now spent Hurricane. 

Those aren't the kind of dreams I have. Mine tend to arise out of replaying a conflict at work that might not have actually happened but just might. Another topic is somehow trying to still find closure on relationships that ended 40 or 50 years ago with people I never think about in the daylight. How about the crazy ones like you get an email wondering why you are not attending a class you registered for and, oh by the way, you have to pass the class to graduate. Those are not the kind of dreams I would chose if I could control the process but those are the dreams that are chosen for me because dream time is the only time my bullheaded ego will allow God and the Holy spirit to dig up buried conflicts I need to resolve. There are times I wake up so frightened that I can't face getting out of bed but I have no recollection of what scared me. Other times I am so angry I often catch myself trying to continue whatever argument I dreamt of with my poor wife even though she probably wasn't even in the dream. 

Dreams have a twin companion that visit us by day. We call dreams that visit during wakefulness day dreams but that does not give them justice and the common understanding of day dreams is they are the past times of lazy people who are slow to step up what is needed in the moment. Let's call them visions because often that is what they are and they can be as much sent by God as are dreams. I have lots of visions. Too many, sometimes. 

Rather than chase that thought lets came back around to why dreams are important spiritually. 

Numbers 12:6
He said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams.

We know God chooses to speak to us during dreams or visions. Why? Because we are defenseless and we become willing to go where we are lead, to see what is shown us and to year what is told to us. The ego can't get in the way. 

As men, husbands and fathers, the best example of God coming to us in dreams is in the example of Joseph. An angel came to him and first spoke of God's will that he accept Mary and again when he was told to carry Mary and Jesus to Egypt and a third time when he was told in a dream it was time to come back to Israel. 

Think also when Elijah was called by the Lord.

1st Kings 19

Then the LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound.

When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah?

Why was he there? Because he was without direction and did not now what was expected next of him. He was caught in threshold, unable to go back but uncertain where to go next. In this vision God engages him in way that caused him to listen and then gave him direction. God, through the vision, gave Elijah what he needed go forth through threshold from where he was to where he was meant to be. So it was with Joseph and so it is with us. 

As I look back and reflect the times when I have stood on a threshold uncertain, frightened, and confused, it was only after extended time in prayer that allowed me see with some clarity the choices before and to discern between what most likely was the will of God and what might have been my own will. It was only the quiet, protected place where my ego could not enter that it became possible to step forward. I have learned this through the experience of having chosen wrongly and then having to correct course. 

I want to finish with a quote and then a poem from John O'Donohue who had a great insight in to the human presence. Often times I can think deeply on a subject and then later look to see what John might have had to say about the revelation I uncovered only to find he said what I wanted to see with a prose made of honey and insight. This comes from "To Bless the Space Between Us":

It remains the dream of every life to realize itself, to reach out and lift itself up to greater heights. A life that continues to remain on the safe side of its own habits and repetitions, that never engages with the risk of its own possibility remains an unlived life. There is within each heart a hidden voice that calls out for freedom and creativity. We often linger for years in spaces that are too small and shabby for the grandeur of our spirit. yet experience always remains faithful to us. If lived truthfully and generously, it will always guide us toward the real pastures.

Looking back along life’s journey, you come to see how each of the central phases of your life began at a decisive threshold where you left one way of being and entered another. A threshold where you left one way of being and entered another. A threshold is not simply an accidental line that happens to separate one region from another. It is an intense frontier that divides a world of feeling from another. Often the threshold becomes clearly visible once you have crossed it. Crossing can often mean the total loss of all you enjoyed while on the other side it becomes a dividing live between the past and the future. More often than not the reason you cannot return to where you were is that you have changed, you are no longer the one who crossed over.

How profound is that? We can't return because we were not longer the person who crossed over. I also thing it is true that once we reach the threshold we have changed already, it is why we traveled to that point. 

Finally this also from the same book: 

For longing ~John O’Donohue

Blessed be the longing that brought you here
And quickens your soul with wonder.

May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire
That disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.

May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease
To discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.

May the forms of your belonging–in love, creativity, and friendship–
Be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul.

May the one you long for long for you.

May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.

May a secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.

May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness with which your body inhabits the world.

May your heart never be haunted by ghost structures of old damage.

May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.

May you know the urgency with which God longs for you.

When we bless someone, we activate the holy spirit to come into the presence of the indwelling spirit of both ourselves and those whom we bless.

When we bless, the blessing is gifted back to us and so we all share in the power of the spirit. Thanks be to God.