If you didn't see this, something to think about
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/03/04/ive-worn-ash-on-my-head-on-espn-for-16-years-this-year-was-different/?utm_term=.cf6f8b221a21
The diaspora, "a group of people who live outside the area in which they had lived for a long time or in which their ancestors lived." For many reasons, Catholics have experienced separation from the place where they grew up, where their ancestors lived. They live in the diaspora. The ministry of Catholics in the Diaspora is focused on reaching out to these members of the family of faith, a community that is one with the great cloud of believers. Please journey with us.
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Thursday, March 2, 2017
No, I did not get ashes.
Ash Wednesday is one of
the most unusual days of my year. “Did you get your ashes?” rings through the
air like the “bells on Christmas day.”
No, I did not get ashes. No, they are not necessary for salvation.
I did celebrate the
beginning of this season that has a rather uniquely male twist (more on that later) with a fresh start with a posture that will insistently mediate my turn toward God. The cleaning lady transformed my home into a
livable space once again; I began acupuncture treatment; I ate a totally decadent chocolate chip cheesecake bar.
It was high time for a
deep clean. It reminded me of the cleaning of the home before Passover. The symbolism in this act is easy for me to
see. In order to lighten my load for the journey, I had to make space in the
clutter and disorganization that has accrued.
turning toward God is nearly impossible when in your pivot you are
literally and figuratively knocking over old containers from take out Chinese
food.
The acupuncture opens the
channels in my being to receive the gifts of the Spirit. Clutter outside; clogging inside. The gunk of
life just slows everything down.
Meditation exercises very often begin with “breathing.” It is tough to breathe when there is no
circulation to meet it.
And that chip cheese bar,
I needed a reminder of how far I have come in my life’s journey. The days of trying to support life on
anti-nourishing food is past. From here
I draw my hope for the future.
My hope for this lent and
the future is to live beyond the clutter of a world that demands we hide behind
the empty spaces of take away events, breathe the life of the Spirit into every
aspect of my being and continue to build upon the goodness I have known as I journey
with the One of Love.
A blessed lent to all as
we each journey to our true hope : the resurrection of the dead and the life of
the world to come.
You surely don’t think much of God’s wonderful goodness or of his patience and willingness to put up with you. Don’t you
know that the reason God is
good to you is because
he wants you to turn to him?
Romans 2:4
Friday, January 20, 2017
Inauguration Day 2017
Today is a day to unplug from social media, news reports,
and the anxiety they breed in the name of free expression of “the truth.”
It is time to revisit the upper room of the earliest followers of
Jesus. They had watched their friend; their
love; their hope be crushed. The voices of doom surrounded them. They were
afraid.
Their Love returned to them and brought them his essence, the
Comforter, the peace the world cannot give.
It took only a word, “peace.”
No pundits. No corrections. No doomsday prophesies.
Just the Love that brings peace.
In the end three things endure faith, hope, and love; and the greatest
of these is Love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Saturday, December 24, 2016
This Christmastide finds us
in confusing and trying times. The news
reports a new nuclear arms race; unimaginable.
It just keeps getting more and more unsettling.
In the midst of this chaos,
comes the Divine Light, human like us.
Years of teaching about “disruptive technology” leads me to think of
this world changing event as the ultimate disruptive event of all time. Into the chaos of the Jewish community
enduring the Roman Empire, the Word became Flesh. The Light made a dwelling among us, to be with
us; to bring “Light and Life” to our everyday.
Each year we sing this
heartily in the hymn “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” Again this year, I muse at Wesley’s skill as
a lyricist. Here he captures the
fullness of salvation history. The
necessity of this birth is clear with only one driving force – to bring
salvation and healing to a broken world.
The allegory of the nativity
story draws us into a deep understanding of the focus of this mission. The outcasts (shepherds), local leaders
(Herod) and global leaders (Magi) all are invited into this grace. Some accept.
Others reject. This is no
soothingly romantic scene. The gospel
writers capture the essential drama of the Garden of Eden: do we say yes to the
Light and embrace salvation or do we continue to live in darkness?
We share so much with the
young family growing up under Roman occupation and the corruption of that
leadership. Jesus knows our fears and
uncertainty as he knows our joys and dreams. The current world drama is the
same today as ever it has been. Will the
world embrace the Light, the healing Love that is salvation? More importantly, are we peaceful enough to affirm
our baptismal call and live the fullness of the Love of which we are members?
For me, Christmas is much
more challenging than Easter. It is
difficult to see past the romantic, soft and very comfortable story told again
and again. Easter is filled with triumph.
Christmas we get a schmatta. It is just
plain hard to see Love in such a messy scene and yet, here it is.
My prayer for each of you
and the world is that the greatest disruption of all time — the unfailing,
limitless Light of Divine Love — enfolds you and infiltrate you with peace; to know
the “healing in His wings.” This is our
time to say, “Yes” and offer “Amen” to the grace that opens us to the light
brings the truth that “God and sinner reconciled”
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, November 10, 2016
"Rise Up and Live in the Light of Oneness"
May your steadfast
love endure to those
Who know You
Your saving grace to
those
Who love truth and
justice!
Protect us from the
seeds of arrogance
The weeds of greed
drive away
Open the hearts of
those who live in
darkness O Beloved
that they might rise up
and live
in the Light of
Oneness
Psalm
36
Nan
Merrill
It has been quite sometime since I found myself in a place
where the imperative to write has been this strong. Life has marched on with its daily challenges
to be engaged in and present to the baptismal call to be “a holy nation, a
people set apart.”
Today, I am preparing for leading a Morning Prayer service
at the national gathering of Call to Action in Albuquerque, NM. I selected Nan Merrill’s paraphrase of
Psalm 36 as part of the service months ago. In this time of national transition, these
words touch me in a new way.
I hurt me at a visceral level to see the people I know and
cherish turning toward judgmental, shaming words focused on their neighbors and
friends. Many years ago, I lead hundreds
of high school students through an exercise that challenged them to pause
before having sexual encounters at a party by closing their eyes and seeing my
face. They all shrieked and laughed! (as
well they should.) It was a moment that brought front and center the idea of
“think before you act.”
Here we are at the open door of new leadership in the
United States of America. We know a
great deal about the groundwork being laid. We know Rudy Giuliani, Newt
Gingrich, Jeff Sessions and Chris Christy.
We may not all agree with them but we know them. To know them gives each
of us important information on at least the basic framework that is
emerging. This knowledge must begin to
shape how we will each move forward in the dialectic that we cherish in this
nation of ours.
The great challenge for the Catholic in the Diaspora as it
is for all the baptized is to close our eyes and before we make a statement
that demeans or shames, no don’t see my face (although that will make you laugh
and break the tension), look into God’s eyes. See the Love that makes this
moment possible and respond in charity.
Do not fall prey to
Ignorance lives deep
in the hearts
Of those who know not
Love;
There is not reverence
for Truth
Before their eyes
Public figure, public policy, laws and governments can only
modify the structures in which we live.
Fortunately, the rights of assembly and speech continue to be bedrock of
the USA. This freedom is extraordinary.
The change of the heart comes from another place. It is changed hearts that bring respect and
grace to any social framework.
Being agents of the heart in the framework of our political
process is the call of the baptized.
Keep looking into the eyes of the Loving One and believe those who have been called, whether they
are Jews or Greeks, slave or free we believe in
a Christ who is both the power of God and
the wisdom of God.” Be the living expression of the freedom that
is ours in baptism. It is the freedom of
those who
Rise up and live
in the Light of
Oneness.
Alleluia!
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