Open heaven by nakedness

What will the voice say of you when the heavens open?

We read in Genesis that after Adam and Eve sinned they saw that they were naked and so hid and covered themselves. The story says God came searching for them, and after finding them trying to hide, God led them out of the garden and the heavens were closed. From then on, nakedness was seen as a shameful condition.

We read in the gospel of Matthew 3:16 how Jesus redeemed that nakedness through his baptism story: after Jesus was baptized and behold, the heavens were opened.  Prayers that commemorate that event say "the voice of the Father thundered," which stand in stark contrast to the Genesis story of God speaking to humankind in the cool of the evening.

To redeem our nakedness, Christ stripped himself before entering the Jordan. By so doing, Jesus shows that shame is not the proper response to nakedness, but rather, we should instead respond by conversion of heart, mind and way of life.

Matthew's account goes on to say that when the heavens were opened and the voice of the Father was heard, the voice proclaimed This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. The darkness of ignorance was split to uncover, enlighten and spotlight that true nakedness is not something to hide, but something to convert into truth.

A prayer for commemorating this event reads "May all who share in Christ's baptism follow in his path of service to humankind, and reflect the glory of his kingdom."

We are to "reflect the glory" of God by our uncovered, converted selves. The legendary Adam and Eve failed to understand this. According to the ancient story, Adam and Eve thought they would obtain Divinity through the fruit of the tree of life. It is Jesus who shows us we obtain real glory through stripping off our false selves and entering into a true and courageous conversion. The authentic fruit comes through baptism, our refusal to hide our condition.

For Hebrews 4:13 says: Nothing can be hidden from the Divine Presence, but everything is naked and uncovered before the eyes of him of whom we speak.

Baptism is the way we stand before God, naked in the truth of ourselves, and our willingness to be different. Then, when the heavens open, Divinity will not say, "Where are you?" but instead, "You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased." 

Becoming the inspiration

A good life radiates like a warm sunrise

I absolutely love this reading from Zechariah 8:22-23:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: in those days ten people of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

The reading fascinates me because it speaks to the power I can carry within myself when my spiritual life is active, alive and well. It means that such a life does radiate out beyond myself and touch the lives of others. It means that I can inspire by my passionate faith and lively hope more than I could ever by my clever words. It means that a life well lived is truly a life worth living.

The reading from Zechariah 8 speaks to hearts that yearn for something more. It demonstrates just how eager we are to learn the "secret" to a peaceful and happy existence. It means that we are willing to follow someone who has evidently learned that secret and is living with that treasure. Let that someone be you and me.

Bringing forth 'I Am'

Days of monastic life

I love reading over notes I wrote years ago, especially my meditation notes from when I lived within the monastery. I recently came across this one:

Perfection is the fullness of life - completeness of God's plans with our way of pursuing life. It is a drawing forth of what God has hidden inside. God spoke the Word and it became 'I Am.'


So hidden in us is the real "I Am" to be brought forth with thought, attention, with the very breath of our life. We must inhale God before we can breath out our true God-like self.

It is the mystery of our faith, to find God by reflecting on God. And in that reflection, we come to share in the Divine Life.

Enough to live

So often we Christians misread and misrepresent the Jesus we say we believe in. Take for example the words written in Matthew 28:20 Go out to all the world, teaching them all I have taught you.  For centuries, we Christians took these words as a command to force our religious beliefs on others, even to the point of threatening death if they did not believe and be baptized. That is the way we Christians get things all balled up and actually harm the message rather than spread it. We take the words literally and miss the meaning behind them.

That is because we read the words, but fail to meditate on them. We look for easy answers in the message, instead of pondering them to find the deeper meaning beneath the story. Worse, we use quotes from the gospel as a way of rebuking or instructing others. We do this badly, because often the message we want others to get is not the message of that verse! We have, in effect, cheapened and corrupted our christian faith.

When I pick up the gospels, I need to look for the pearl of great price meant for me.  I need to avoid treating it as a book of history, doctrine, or even guidelines. As I read, I should remember it is a description of a life, a life divine and redemptive of one who invites me to follow him. Only then will I understand that life and feel no need to preach. It will be enough to live it.

When light harms and darkness enlightens

Darkness is usually seen as evil, and light as God. And yet, there are times when we live in darkness, and it is not evil, but a time of rest. And conversely, times when light is not God, but danger and subtle pride.

Psalm 121:6 speaks to this time theme when it says, The sun shall not smite you in the day, nor the moon at night. These words infer that light can be harmful at times, times when we put a lot of trust in our selves, our own reflections, our own inspirations, and forget that we are and always remain wounded. And that seems to be the problem.

People of faith tend to struggle between feeling unworthy and forgetting that they remain wounded no matter how strong their faith. It is for us to strike a balance between the two. First of all, we do not need to become "worthy" in God's eyes, for he sees us as we are. We only need to go forward in trust, a humble trust that remembers always, we are vulnerable beings.

As Christians, we are often taunted by the same words used against Christ and Jeremiah, "If he is God's chosen one, surely God will save him." We even speak these words to ourselves. And yet, how wrong are those words! We should replace them with the words of psalm 23:4 Even if I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil, for you are with me with your rod and staff, that give me courage.

This is true inspiration, one borne of darkness, one of acceptance of one's vulnerability, and one that leads forward in the light of trust.

To have or not to have exit plans

I recently picked up from another blog the concept of having an "exit plan."  The author of this blog debates the pros and cons of such an idea (she is more inclined to live spontaneously and not to plan), but I think the idea of an exit plan boils down to this: be the decider of your life. In other words, you make the choices necessary. Do not leave it up to chance or fate.

I for one think exit plans are good. I think we often miss out in life because we are too passive and want a freedom that actually harms us spiritually. I think far too many of us refuse to "exit" when necessary because of the risks involved, the unknown, or the insecurity. So we stay put far longer than we should, and miss the excitements and lessons we could learn if only we would take control and exit when our souls prompt us to.

My ideal of an exit plan is know yourself, or what spiritual writers call self-knowledge. Do not let others dictate how life should be for you. You be the maker of decisions. Then, whether it is to enter or exit, you will be following, not the whims of another, but the promptings of the spirit alive and awake in your own soul.

Mercy not sacrifice

In the Kingdom, the last shall be first

Today honors one of the Gospel writers, Matthew. Looking at his life, we see a mirror of how Jesus thinks and how Jesus acts.

According to the gospel account, Matthew was a tax collector, a profession considered traitorous by his own country men. Strict Jews of Jesus time would have banned any contact or communication with such a person. So, of course, Jesus walks over to Matthew and says not "Hi. Howya doin?" but, "Follow me" (Mt 9:9). And Matthew rises up and leaves everything to follow.

I've often wondered at certain passages of the gospels, those that deal with the righteous being cast out and those considered "sinners" or "least worthy" being made friends of God. Matthew certainly fits in this category, but so does Mary Magdalen (Lk 7:36-50), the Centurion (Mt 8:5-13), and most especially, the story of the pharisee and the publican (Lk 18:9-14).

Jesus must see something humble, something honest, something authentic in these cast-outs of regular religious society.  According Matthew (9:9-13) Jesus response to those who questioned his association with Matthew and his friends were simple, Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

Swiss mystic Maurice Zundel writes As long as we have not met God...God is like a false god. Maybe this is the answer to the puzzle. All of the good works or piety or just deeds we do have no real meaning until we meet God. And in Jesus own words, we do that by mercy, not sacrifice.

Surrender and freedom

Surrender, like a good seed, has many shoots

Surrender. It is suppose to help one let go and be free. But as a recent conversation with a friend revealed, surrender can also bring guilt and sadness. Why would that be?

I have several thoughts on the matter. First of all, surrender, like forgiveness, is not a one time act. Though you make a decision, you must renew that decision every time the thought or desire to cling comes to mind. And that is what I think my friend was going through. She had given up something precious that she felt she needed to let go. And she felt the freedom of letting go as she gave it away. But coming  home, she was engulfed in sadness because, that decision had to be made all over again, and that letting go had to be renewed.

I think there is another aspect of surrender that we rarely think about, and that is consequences. I tend to think of Surrender as the culmination of an act, the final decision. But it isn't. Life is a journey, and we must enter into such aspects of this journey not once, but over and over again. And so, surrender is not the ultimate act, it is just one act made along the way, bringing with it other changes and consequences. Our task is not to lose heart, not to forget the goal, and not to be surprised when our surrender makes us feel more vulnerable, or less rooted.

I think that surrender is not just an important decision that leads to freedom, but an important step in our journey. It is surrender that says I can trust more, I do not need to cling to some security or memento. Surrender takes courage, because it is a definite step forward toward vulnerability. And in being more vulnerable, we do become more Divine.

In pursuit of Light

There is Light.

We must pursue it so that it will warm our hearts and breaks open our moods.

If you seek the Light, it will be felt in the warmth of your friendship,
                                                             the sincerity of your promises,
                                                                  the authenticity of your commitments.

Light will overcome all darkness,
and drive all guilt away.

Light will be for you better than riches,
for you will be wise beyond your years,
and content beyond the ability of words to express.

For lack of sacred space

Monasteries are places of Sacred Space

I have a word that I love. It is Sacred Space. I think of it as the desert where I meet with God with all distractions removed. But one component absolutely essential for Sacred Space is silence, and I find that almost impossible to find these days.

Noise is so prevalent that it is hard to find quiet even in a church, a park, or a natural setting. Everywhere, people bring their noise with them and think nothing of imposing that noise upon all. It would seem that noise is as virulent as the latest disease promoted in Contagion!

Why silence? Think of Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord, and psalm 145:18-19 The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. I know these verses well. But how often do they come to mind when I need them? Not often enough. And that is because all things I believe in remain theoretical and esoteric until I make them a part of myself. To do that, I need my Sacred Space to meditate, reflect, be still and ponder.

If you would find your Sacred Space, run from the contagion of NOISE. Find yourself some silence and quiet where you can dialogue with God. Let that space be your protection and safeguard.

We cannot cure the world of NOISE. But we can keep ourselves from becoming infected with it.



 

A change that will remain

We must never forget God's promise to be with us

Living by the spirit, heeding the inspirations that come, and even more importantly, following the way you discern, brings a deep joy and satisfaction. But it does not always come immediately. Sometimes the path leads one into a place of extreme loneliness. And during such times, life can seem unusually hard, because we all treasure a friend who can understand and encourage.

I've rarely read anything to guide me through a time like this. Most literature speaks about "The Dark Night of the Soul".  But rarely have I read about the topic of loneliness, as though it is to be avoided at all costs, or perhaps as if it doesn't happen to good hearted souls.

But happen, it does. I suspect the topic does not get mentioned because it is a difficult one to tackle. No one wants to learn that when you are most "down" you may even be most "alone".  No one likes to hear...when life is hardest, you may even have to give up hope for a friend. You may have to go forth on this journey all alone, with all your doubts and confusion, and stop expecting understanding or compassion. Because during such a time, life does become darker than night. There is a lot we can bear, if we have just one person by our side to encourage us. To go it alone leads one into a desolate place.

During such times it is important to remember my pilgrim journey, that I am moving, and that this place won't last. It is also good to remember that such a time is not without benefits: it is often during my most "alone" hours that I learn of my weaknesses and of my great  strengths. As I continue forward, believing solely because my faith tells me to, I find that when reaching down into the depths for inner strength, I find a faith, hope and trust I didn't know I had.

We all like to think of the joys and rewards of our journey to God. It is good to remind ourselves that the journey also involves quite a bit of loneliness as well. It isn't so much when we suffer it, but how we work through these times that changes us as a person. And that change will remain.

The beauty born of trial

Fall is a time when we admire the beauty of nature as the trees turn color and the forest takes on a variety of gold, red and orange hues. The color is so stunning we often forget it is a sign of dying.

The same goes for other wonders of nature. One of my favorite paintings depict a stormy sea crashing on  rocks. I remember staring at this picture and admiring the awesome spray of the water against the rocks, the boiling sea tossing waves high into the air, when suddenly I realized the very thing I was admiring is a terrible thing to experience. Sea faring vessels fear such a sea, and beach goers, at least sane ones, would not dare venture into such a surf. And yet, there is beauty in the sight.

Perhaps this is to remind us that often we do not see the beauty of our own soul when we are being transformed by such cycles. We feel the pain, or struggle with the fear, or doggedly move forward when we want to lay low. But such incidents do bring out our inner beauty, our faith, and our strong soul. Even though we may not be aware of it while in struggle, it is good to remind ourselves that there is beauty even in pain. And that even if we do not see it, others do.

Hearing the call...each time

When you believe in destiny, you also admit to having a "calling". Life becomes a seeking out of that calling, in order to fulfill one's destiny.

But we can be called more than once.

And so, we must be ready and aware that a calling need not be permanent. We may be asked to move on.
For destiny requires preparation, and preparation takes time. And if, just when you think you can settle, you are drawn forth once again, do not think of it as restlessness. And do not take the attitude that I failed to get it right again. For every thing you do in life is part of the journey, laying the groundwork for your future. Instead, thank God that you have ears sensitive enough to hear the call, and a heart generous enough to move forward yet again.


For in the journey we remind ourselves that we are pilgrims on this earth, and should not settle for that which makes us secure. We should seek for that which fulfills us and know, we are called, not once, but multiple times.

Aware of the Presence

Without awareness, we live in a fog

Few gospel accounts are as touching as the one in Luke 7:11-17. Jesus is walking along, sees a funeral procession, witnesses the grief of a mother for her only son, and is moved. As the gospel account records, When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, "Do not weep." He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, "Young man, I tell you, arise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

We should remember this account, for it demonstrates to us the compassionate Jesus, who really cares about how we are. He does not delight in our struggles. In fact, he is distressed by them. If he doesn't step in and remove them from our midst, it is not through lack of caring. No. He is allowing the majesty of God to be revealed to us through that trial.

I say this because I find too many who think of God as some far off being, who sleeps beyond the stars, and cares little about the daily events of my life. God is not far, he is very near to us. And it is up to us to discern his care. Perhaps we look for it in the removal of all painful events. But normally, that will not happen. God is near and shows his care through small things, things that we won't even notice unless we ourselves are aware of God.

To believe is to journey. And to journey toward destiny is to remember Divinity within. God is with us. It is for us to make ourselves ever more aware of the Presence. Then, we will realize it when Divinity steps in and raises up our dead spirits and returns life to our souls.

Finding solace in the midst of woe

When you feel the need of comfort or encouragement, take up the book of Psalms. Nothing can be more attuned to the human heart than the expressions and prayers found there.

Just to give you an example, take psalm 61. O God, hear my cry! Listen to my prayer! From the end of the earth I call: my heart is faint. And the psalm ends with the words, So I will always praise your name and day after day fulfill my vows.

And psalm 28: The Lord is my strength and my shield. In him my heart trusts, and I find help.

Psalm 103: The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion. 

These beautiful verses express the vast expanses of human emotions, and guide our own way of prayer. Unlike many formalized prayers, the psalms are direct, brutally honest, and straight from the heart. You cannot fail to find one that captures the sentiments of your heart, regardless of the season you may be going through.

I urge you to make the psalms your friends, to delve into them often, and let the one that speaks best for you become your mantra.

For the moment, mine is, I love you Lord, you are my strength from psalm 18.

What is your favorite psalm?

Healing from 9/11

Come, let us return to the Lord, For it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds. Hosea, 6:1.

As we remember 9/11, we will again be subjected to images of all the horrific events that happened that day. As we watch, we cannot help but be moved, with emotions stirring up our hearts and souls. How to handle these powerful feelings? For in remembering 9/11, we remember also the hateful deed, the senseless deaths, the destruction, fear, and lack of respect for life. In watching the tapes of 9/11 events, we shall be re-living the event all over again, ten years later. And our heart will beg us...please, help me to heal from such a deep wound.

Return to the Lord, Hosea says, and he will heal us. We return when we learn the Divine act of forgiveness. It is forgiveness that takes us into the very essence of God. It is forgiveness that transforms us. To forgive, we must relinquish our anger, and refuse to nurture it endlessly. For anger is an infection. As we read in the Book of Sirach 28:3: Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?

As the images are shown again and again this weekend, let us make the conscious choice to forgive. Let not the injury done against us keep us in hatred and with a continuous desire for revenge. For only forgiveness can turn the senseless death of those caught in the towers, in the pentagon, or in the hijacked planes into a powerful witness, born out of our own souls.

Let us honor the tenth anniversary of 9/11 by returning to the Lord.

For only the Divine One can heal us and make us whole again.

 

In memory of Sept. 11

While many events are planned to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, I would like to suggest we commemorate it by cleansing our hearts of anger and fear, and join together with one another in prayer. Terrorists aim to divide. We can defeat them by uniting and caring for one another. This is the only way to overcome the 9/11 attacks and keep alive the memory of all those who lost their lives this day.

For this purpose, I propose a prayer written in 1999, and which directly opposes the mind set of the terrorists:

"Life is not fair," the sinner said, and he sinned all he could, regardless.
"Life is not fair," the agnostic said, and he killed himself to prove it.
"Life is not fair," the advocate said, and he thought up new laws to amend it.
"Life is not fair," the zealot said, and he started a war to protest it.
"Life is not fair," the thief said, and he stole what he could to possess it.
"Life is not fair," the Savior said, and he shed all his blood to redeem it.
                                                                                                      by Amy Gracey

Let us remember what unites us, and let us strive to live it. Then we will truly honor those who lost their lives ten years ago, when terrorists sought to protest our American way of life by destruction and chaos.

Poor in spirit

What if I saw setback and reverses as gifts? What if I took on the attitude of an athlete that believes struggles are there to make me strong? How would that change my life?

Perhaps this is the secret to being poor in spirit. Perhaps what Jesus calls blessed is an attitude that refuses to live as "privileged" and act as if I deserve better, always.

Raniero Cantalamessa writes that God does not value what the poor [in spirit] have but what they do not have: self-sufficiency, a closed attitude, a presumption of being able to save themselves. A pretty profound thought.

So, if I realize I am not self-sufficient, then I will be open to finding the treasure within, and know that I can never honestly say, how can God treat me this way? 

A while back, a book written by someone who found out she had cancer made this startling statement. I was asked if I wondered, why me, Lord? But I didn't. Instead, when I realized I had the disease, my first thought was, why not me? Why should others suffer and I be spared? Why should I not have to take my share of trials on this earth, along with the many others? 

This person had the poverty of spirit Jesus calls blessed. She had an attitude that suffering was not the evil, but an attitude of privilege was. This person gives us an example of how our own outlook should be in life, one of openness, one of acceptance, one of grace.

The journey forward

Some of the words Jesus is supposed to have said can have a harsh sound to them. Take the sentence, unless you hate father and mother, brother and sister, even your own life, you cannot be my disciple. This from the same Jesus who told us to LOVE OUR ENEMIES! So what is this all about?

It could be nothing more than an encouragement to look beyond natural love when the time comes to step forward into something more difficult in life. Each of us, one day, comes to a point where we must make a hard decision. Sometimes we hesitate for fear of how it will affect those we love. Depending on the decision, we may need to put aside such emotional ties as we seek the truth of our future, and where the spirit is leading. Whatever decision we must make, we must make it looking toward heaven and basing our choice on the Holy Spirit.

In his book, The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho examines just such a journey. He notes how many people are content to dream. Some even get close to seeing the fulfillment of their dream. But for some unknown reason, we often stop short. Going all the way seems counter to our nature.

Perhaps this is all Jesus is saying when he tells us that to follow him we must give up our life. He isn't asking us for some terrible renunciation, but rather a fierce determination that goes forward without letting sentiment or personal feelings get in our way. Going forward requires courage and steadfastness.  For often we do not see the treasure close to us  until we've made the journey that changes and matures our vision. And life is, after all, a journey forward.

Knowing God face to face

Paul says in 1 Cor. 13:12 that when we reach eternity, we shall finally see God face to face. But why wait for that encounter when we can have it now? Benedict says God is the foundational reality, not a God who is merely imagined or hypothetical, but God with a human face; he is God-with-us...

The rub is, how do we see God face to face in the here and now? I suggest we do so every time we transform the truths we believe in into a living and breathing reality. We can know God face to face by living beyond the merely hypothetical.

The values that brings us closest to this vision are those of mercy, forgiveness, compassion and charity. These are the values that require us to understand life on a different plane. We are challenged to see beyond the purely superficial level, and probe events in life, especially the most difficult ones, for the treasures they hold within. If we do this regularly, we ourselves will become transformed into very different human beings, with a depth and tranquility that defies human reasoning.

Eventually, like Mother Theresa, we ourselves will become the face of God to those who know us. For this face to face encounter is not as esoteric as we like to believe. God is very real, and stays very close to us.

Learning to live life to the full

Do you ever wonder why Jesus never wrote anything to hand down to us? He spoke volumes to his disciples. But he never wrote something for them to treasure, something for them to keep in their pocket and refer back to time and time again. Why?


I think it is because of our tendency to become attached to such things. Even today, Christians profess to follow the teachings of Jesus. But get them talking about the Bible, and often differences become vast and moods are anything but Christ-like.

Part of this comes from our human tendency to take life so very seriously. We forget the spirit behind the words and often take the words literally. We do this with faith, with church, with our politics. And yet, Jesus says "I came that you may have life, and have it to the full." What is full of life in literal translations and interpretation?

The bible tells us Jesus roamed about without a place to lay his head. I love to think of our Christian life as one where we never allow ourselves the luxury of settling, but continue to dig into the Word and find continued life in it.

When you are climbing a mountain, you often come upon the same vistas. yet, the higher you climb, the more vast your view.

The same goes for the Word of God and things of God. Every day we should be looking at life, at faith, at the Divine Word in a different light. Different, because we are at a different place then we were a day ago.

This is what it means to have life, and have it to the full. To never stop seeking.

Turning darkness into light

We read in Isaiah 42:16: I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them.

What does it mean to turn darkness into light? It means being able to understand the dark things in life with a different perspective, a bigger view, and a deeper understanding.

Take the concept of pain and suffering. Before the coming of Jesus, such incidents in life were looked upon as punishments. But Jesus took those same human conditions, and taught his followers to find the pearl of great price hidden beneath the field of human misery. He showed us that nothing that happens to us is sterile, let along a punishment. He invites us to surrender to his message, in order to see the light hidden in the darkness.

It is interesting to note that Isaiah doesn't say, I will lead them out of darkness into light, but I will turn darkness into light. This implies that darkness is not something we can dispel forever. It will visit and haunt us throughout our lives. It is for us to grapple with it, and in that struggle, find the jewel it offers.

John Tauler says that being drawn to God through sorrow is a safer way than [being drawn] through joy. This in itself is a hard saying, but the meaning is clear. No pain or suffering need be fruitless. There is, in the Divine plan, a way to turn all darkness into light. For those of us who are Christians, it means being able to see things differently, to look beyond the superficial and realize there is a lesson to be learned, a grace offered, a moment of self-reflection to be gotten from this setback.