(no subject)
Despite our recourse to measures designed to protect us from our own vulnerability, Saint Paul recognizes that we cannot escape the trials that accompany being human. Our attempts to be invincible can obscure the truth that the author of our humanity remains faithfully turned toward us. God stands ready to supply the strength we need and lead us out from our pride-induced predicament.
A young couple's five-year-old daughter succumbed to an infection following heart surgery. The father of the girl took up cycling as an outlet for his anger and grief, eventually spending hours a day training and regularly winning elite competitions. This all changed when, during a dawn ride, he was struck by a car and almost died. He lives, but the long road to recovery will require several surgeries and much spiritual stamina.
Is he bitter? No. He even regards the near-death experience as a blessing in disguise. "I am so lucky -- all that time I took away from my wife and other kids. I get a second chance to make up for it."
This man knows what it is to be brought low from a high level of performance and prestige. From his new vantage point, he recognizes persons whom he had ignored in straining to avoid the emptiness and pain of his daughter's death. He had rediscovered his true identity in relation to his family -- and, we might infer, God. He has embraced the place that we too easily pass by as we attempt to escape. But, sadly, we often amplify our restlessness, the sense of competing -- above all, against ourselves -- and draw others into the vacuum where a spirit of solidarity should reside.
Still, try as we might to run away, God keeps pace with us, bearing the burden we add to the weight of our humanity. God waits until finally we let Christ's cross pry open our pride and our pain, lifting us up, providing a way out.
~Father William Joensen
----------------------------------------------------------
"Come, follow me" is not an invitation to a grand adventure. It is an adventure to transform our hearts. Sooner or later we must see ourselves as we truly are. Novelist Nora Gallagher reflects that there is another, deeper life that lies hidden beneath all human activity. Sometimes it surfaces, but not often enough. To be a full, true human being in this world, this little-known nature must come to full maturity. I liken it to my roses. You do not snip a rose before the blossom appears. You fertilize the plants, water them, watch and wait. The blossom doesn't open until all the conditions are ready. When the petals appear, the bloom has finally reached its potential.
The same life force that animates the rose bush flows through us as well. It is a power of spirit that has never been imprisoned or compromised. If we want this life force to change us, we must open ourselves to it, just as flowers turn toward the sun. The movement is instinctive in the plant; for us, it requires a conscious turning.
At any moment we can start over. It's never too late to begin again. It is not about making mistakes. It's about deciding whether or not to let life teach us, and whether or not to let sorrow change us. It's giving up the notion that there is a particular way that life should be, and simply embracing the beauty in exactly what we've been given.
~Paula D'Arcy
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is one of the most profound statements Jesus makes: I am. Here he unequivocally identifies himself with the God who revealed himself to Moses as I AM. And the people understood the claim he was making; some believed, while others took up stones to kill him as a blasphemer.
Jesus is one with us in all that is human, in our humanity. And he is God, the eternal I AM. Coming to realize this is important for our knowledge not only of him, but of ourselves. For we are made in the image of God; We are. This is our true self. We are not what we do or have or what others think of us, though many of us live as though this were so. All of this -- what we do, what we have, what others think of us -- we all too often construct into a false self. This is the "self" Jesus says we have to die to. This self cannot relate with Jesus, who is the Truth. It is out of our very being that we relate to God and are one with him.
~M. Basil Pennington
--------------------------------------------------------------
To pray does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts into thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him in a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings.
Prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts -- beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful -- can be thought in the presence of God. The main question is not so much what we think, but to whom we present our thoughts.
~Henri Nouwen
----------------------------------------------------------------
I do believe that we all have our own unique spiritual weakness and challenge with which we continue to expose and heal, layer after layer throughout our journey of faith. I like the image of peeling the onion, coming deeper and deeper to the core which is death to self and the illumination of the true person we were created to be; the oneness with the Holy Spirit, the Christ who dwells within. In one way or another, I think for all of us that underlying area which we must overcome is a pride of some sort. Certainly for me this is where openness to self-emptying is essential. I feel as though I've looked at the various layers I have previously worked through and have now identified not just the particular challenge which I allow to come between me and God, but that underlying source of pride; the "why", as well. I was aware of the problem, but perhaps not so much the cause of the problem. I like how today's reflections are all very encouraging as to embracing that core self and letting ourselves be changed through the kenosis of the Cross of Christ.
I expect to be home pretty late this evening, but would like to share other thoughts regarding earlier reflections as they relate to life's events. Putting my thoughts into written word allows me to achieve greater perspective.
A young couple's five-year-old daughter succumbed to an infection following heart surgery. The father of the girl took up cycling as an outlet for his anger and grief, eventually spending hours a day training and regularly winning elite competitions. This all changed when, during a dawn ride, he was struck by a car and almost died. He lives, but the long road to recovery will require several surgeries and much spiritual stamina.
Is he bitter? No. He even regards the near-death experience as a blessing in disguise. "I am so lucky -- all that time I took away from my wife and other kids. I get a second chance to make up for it."
This man knows what it is to be brought low from a high level of performance and prestige. From his new vantage point, he recognizes persons whom he had ignored in straining to avoid the emptiness and pain of his daughter's death. He had rediscovered his true identity in relation to his family -- and, we might infer, God. He has embraced the place that we too easily pass by as we attempt to escape. But, sadly, we often amplify our restlessness, the sense of competing -- above all, against ourselves -- and draw others into the vacuum where a spirit of solidarity should reside.
Still, try as we might to run away, God keeps pace with us, bearing the burden we add to the weight of our humanity. God waits until finally we let Christ's cross pry open our pride and our pain, lifting us up, providing a way out.
~Father William Joensen
----------------------------------------------------------
"Come, follow me" is not an invitation to a grand adventure. It is an adventure to transform our hearts. Sooner or later we must see ourselves as we truly are. Novelist Nora Gallagher reflects that there is another, deeper life that lies hidden beneath all human activity. Sometimes it surfaces, but not often enough. To be a full, true human being in this world, this little-known nature must come to full maturity. I liken it to my roses. You do not snip a rose before the blossom appears. You fertilize the plants, water them, watch and wait. The blossom doesn't open until all the conditions are ready. When the petals appear, the bloom has finally reached its potential.
The same life force that animates the rose bush flows through us as well. It is a power of spirit that has never been imprisoned or compromised. If we want this life force to change us, we must open ourselves to it, just as flowers turn toward the sun. The movement is instinctive in the plant; for us, it requires a conscious turning.
At any moment we can start over. It's never too late to begin again. It is not about making mistakes. It's about deciding whether or not to let life teach us, and whether or not to let sorrow change us. It's giving up the notion that there is a particular way that life should be, and simply embracing the beauty in exactly what we've been given.
~Paula D'Arcy
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is one of the most profound statements Jesus makes: I am. Here he unequivocally identifies himself with the God who revealed himself to Moses as I AM. And the people understood the claim he was making; some believed, while others took up stones to kill him as a blasphemer.
Jesus is one with us in all that is human, in our humanity. And he is God, the eternal I AM. Coming to realize this is important for our knowledge not only of him, but of ourselves. For we are made in the image of God; We are. This is our true self. We are not what we do or have or what others think of us, though many of us live as though this were so. All of this -- what we do, what we have, what others think of us -- we all too often construct into a false self. This is the "self" Jesus says we have to die to. This self cannot relate with Jesus, who is the Truth. It is out of our very being that we relate to God and are one with him.
~M. Basil Pennington
--------------------------------------------------------------
To pray does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts into thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him in a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings.
Prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts -- beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful -- can be thought in the presence of God. The main question is not so much what we think, but to whom we present our thoughts.
~Henri Nouwen
----------------------------------------------------------------
I do believe that we all have our own unique spiritual weakness and challenge with which we continue to expose and heal, layer after layer throughout our journey of faith. I like the image of peeling the onion, coming deeper and deeper to the core which is death to self and the illumination of the true person we were created to be; the oneness with the Holy Spirit, the Christ who dwells within. In one way or another, I think for all of us that underlying area which we must overcome is a pride of some sort. Certainly for me this is where openness to self-emptying is essential. I feel as though I've looked at the various layers I have previously worked through and have now identified not just the particular challenge which I allow to come between me and God, but that underlying source of pride; the "why", as well. I was aware of the problem, but perhaps not so much the cause of the problem. I like how today's reflections are all very encouraging as to embracing that core self and letting ourselves be changed through the kenosis of the Cross of Christ.
I expect to be home pretty late this evening, but would like to share other thoughts regarding earlier reflections as they relate to life's events. Putting my thoughts into written word allows me to achieve greater perspective.