“Keeping On”

Lk.1:26-38 “Feast if the Annuciation” On this the eve of my birthday I am reminded of Mary who followed the call of God not knowing where it would lead–and so it is with God, we never know where the call will lead, and I follow the same call in the next year of my life.

“Feeding the Hungry On A Rainy Day”

www.temenos.org Luke 16:19-31  It is pouring down rain, and I have been asked “are you feeding tonight?”  Those guys on the street are the Lazaruses of our society–they have nothing, little food, no housing–so yes I am feeding, for as we speak the food is cooking and Jesus smiles.

“Living In the Moment”

Matthew 23:1-12 Being sick, getting older, makes me realize how totally dependent on God we all are.  Last night those kids in the doorways, bundled up, remind me how dependent we are on God and each other. Jim Wallace put it simply: “Simplicity in our living is not about having less of life; it is about having more of it. It is about clearing out the barriers that stop us from having it.”” The barriers of expectation, of wanting, and desiring more.

“Reflections”

This Saturday is my birthday. I have been sick all week. I have been basically alone.  No phone calls accept kids needing something, have not felt like checking email etc. I look at my life and wonder–have I failed.  But then I know I am fulfilled, happy. My vocation brings me much joy, and it is a joy that I experience daily. Malcolm Muggeridge once said of Mother Teresa, “I ran away and stayed away, she moved in an stayed.”  I too moved in and stayed. I live simply, I work late at night, and I am very single minded in my service–all limits social relationships, but I feel joy, much joy.

“In A Word–Day By Day”

“In A Word”–Today begins the second week of Lent and my heart is overwhelmed–disaster, terrible disaster in Japan, teacher lay offs–so much disaster and so much pain. All I can do i simply go about my daily business of praying, feeding the hungry, comforting the afflicted–and trust in God.

“In A Word–Day By Day”

www.temenos.orgt “In A Word”–Matt. 6:7-8 I have been sick, and my demons assail me when I am sick. I wonder sometimes if my life has been wasted, if I have really failed, and yet I get up today to cook a meal, to serve it tonight, to keep on working having faith that God is present

“Take Up Your Cross”

In A Word”–“Take Up your Cross Daily” Last night we celebrated Ash Wednesday by the placing of ashes in the sign of the cross. As I moved up and down the street providing supplies” and offering ashes, some refused, but a few wanted the ashes. I am reminded how each person is a child of God, and each one reaches out to God. Taking up the cross for me is simplygiving myself away in love to God inspite of my own doubts, infirmities, emotional hang ups

IN A Word: Ash Wednesday

www.temenos.org

 “In A Word”–Lent is a time to recall the priority of God in our lives: that we come from and go to God,and that God is the companion of our lives. The focus of living faith and practice is not on us but on God’s place in our lives. Lent for me is focusing outward on those I serve, and inward on my own sinfulness and neediness giving it all to God.

“In A Word–Following God”

www.temenos.org Tobit 2:9-14  We may search for something all of our lives which is actually not for us.  This is when we need to quiet down that we may hear what God whsipers in our heartg. Then we take what is ours and give to God what is God’s.  I had my own plans for life, but God had his, and I am far more fulfilled then in mine.

“Face Time”

In the past few months I have become more involved with social media–Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Youthnoise–primarily because that is the way to communicate with the under 25 crowd. For people over fifty (not all), these are foreign means of communication, they do not understand them or use them.  But for the interent generation it has become their primary means of communication. Like it or not the internet is here to stay. So where does that leave us. It has become a truism that socializing on line is not the same as socializing in person, that Facebook friendship is not the same as real friendship.  Therefore we need to strike a balance. But if such a balanced is to be had, it will involve some form of renunication.  The time you spend updating your status or poking fun at someone on Facebook is time you might have spent having a real conversatin with a friends, or in solitude, which is a convsersation with your self.   The problem presents itself to people of faith the way it presents itself to people in general, and I doubt there is any particular faith solution.  But I do think that an understanding of what one’s faith consists of might help us at least to correct one tendency of our digital age. In a sacramental faith, faith is not just about attiutudes or conceptual beliefs; it is about practices.  Social media tempt us to think of friendship primarily as an attitude of mutual approval.  This person finds me nice; I find him or her nice; we find the same things nice.  So I am on his or her list of friends and he or shed is on mine.  In fact such affinities are not the same as friendship, though they make friendship possible.  People of faith should be  the last to forget that friendship is actually constitued and sustained by practice, including the time consuming practice of conversation, but also including every kind of care.  You say you are someone’s friend because you know her or him well–but how do you treat him or her. Are you a practicing friend?  This Lent take time away from your busy schedule–from your computer, your golf game, your next meeting–and spend time with a friend, take them out for a meal, simply listen to them, and be present to them. Let this be your Lenten practice. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!