Immortal Diamond - Week Two

I have been taking an online class on the Father Richard Rohr book "Immortal Diamond." The format of the class is to read a chapter of the book, review material posted online that expands and broadens understanding of the book, and then share reflections on the material as studied and contemplated. I am now posting my posting here on my personal blog to help me keep a record of my progress. The class began in the month before I retired and will continue on for another 2 months after retirement. The timing was intentional. I wanted to deeply consider the war between my false self and my true self as I box up the human frailties of the false self to reveal and embrace the truth. The war is one-sided. My false self is warring to keep the true self from exiling it from day to day existent. The truth simply waits for the fire to go out and diamonds left behind can be revealed. 

The voyage began this way with these discussion questions to ponder on and reflect on in writing.

The goodness of God fills all the gaps of the universe, without discrimination or preference.

Death is not just physical dying, but going to full depth, hitting the bottom, going the distance, beyond where I am in control, fully beyond where I am now.
When you go into the full depths and death, sometimes even the depths of your sin, you come out the other side--and the word for that is resurrection.

Reading the book again for the third time, this time slower and with more purpose, I am finding diamonds on every page, small enough for me to have overlooked in my rush to uncover bigger gems of many carets. These smaller stones, when inspected with care, reveal startling brilliance with countless facets of great clarity. I now expect to emerge on the other side of the course with a sack of stones of far greater value than I ever dreamt possible.

As I considered the discussion questions, the reflected light of the newly gained gems illumined truths that available all along but are just now recognized. Before I began to reduce my thoughts to words I can share, I read the posted comments not just once but multiple times.

I was struck immediately by the breadth and depth of the posts. I tend to organize thoughts and experiences through metaphors and analogies.

Fishing and fly fishing have been pastimes, to the point of addiction sometimes, over the course of my entire life. There have been countless times when I just looked down into the water and watched trout as they lay near the bottom of the stream, facing upstream and using only as much energy as necessary to maintain position. The current brings them all manner of organic and inorganic particles. Most things are not food so the debris just slides downstream around the nose of the trout and out of sight. Other times something valuable will drift or swim nearby. The trout will casually open it is jaws and suck in the bug or other prey without much movement or exertion.

The analogy for me today comes from feeling like a trout in a swift current overwhelmed by many things flowing by except in the case of the trout, everything that comes by has value. Fortunately, I could just wait for things to flow by again so I could have another chance to understand the wisdom and experience you all shared.

The other that struck me that is analogous to how a trout lives is there are times when a trout has to move out of the safety of the deeper, darker water to take advantage of the offerings of nourishment they can only obtain in shallower water or near the surface which makes them vulnerable to threats from above. It does not require courage for trout to be vulnerable, only proper incentive.

Humans are different. We need the courage to reveal things about ourselves in order to gain the needed nourishment of understanding and self-knowledge. Usually, it takes time for people to relax enough with each other to be vulnerable. What I encountered was a level of openness and honesty that astounded me. I am one of many in the class and none of you know me, so I am truly honored to be gifted with the revelation of things of ultimate concern and true essence. I will respond in kind as go forth from this powerful beginning. Thanks.

Peace

There is something greater than Jonah here. Wednesday, Febuary 24 - the first Wednesday in Lent

 

I have long felt a close kinship with Jonah. I am convinced that had the good Lord called me as a prophet, my reaction would have been more along the line of Jonah, rather than someone like Jeremiah who argued a bit and then got in line with what was asked of him. I know I have not totally ignored the little voice of God when he whispered in my ear, or, at times even shouted in my ear. Sure, I will come back to the church. Right after hunting season is over. Not the end of December but the middle of January when the waterfowl season is over. This was my response even though I did not even hunt ducks or geese. I eventually got there but not until I had more than a few wrecks.

Looking at how things turned out for Jonah as referenced here I have to wonder how many times I followed the intended plan and, much to my surprise, things worked out as planned but my reaction was not happiness and satisfaction but disappointment, I did not get to see the big explosion I thought would be way things would end.

Today life is good. We are settling into our new lives here on the river and we see our kids and our granddaughter often. I am winding down my work life with a pretty easy-going load as we slide toward retirement. Our health is ok, not perfect, mind you, but perfect. As I look back over the most recent years, though, I see I have been called to many different things and was blessed with a good outcome from my efforts. Right now I am coasting a bit, waiting for the next little nudges that have been the pattern for prior encounters and I wonder what will come next. I know there is something percolating but nothing has caught my attention.

I am telling myself to pay attention so that I do not hop on a ship headed in the wrong direction and then ending up in the belly of the whale. There is something great to come. 

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.