Archive for March, 2013
Resurrection and Ascension –Bible Study on Luke
March 29, 2013Good Friday
March 29, 2013AT THE RIVER WE STAND
Holy Thursday
March 28, 2013Heb. 13:12 “And Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy with his blood.”
Today is Holy Thursday, and like the Christians of old we stand “outside the gate.” I see this building going up over here, I see the construction of magnificent buildings around the city, and I feel sad, because those buildings are signs of greed, and the neglect of people who have little. We are “outside the gate”, and Jesus was crucified “outside the gate,” but in that crucifixion and resurrection he offers us hope and he summons us to
“run the race that is laid out before us, since we have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off the extra baggage, get rid of the sins that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne.
Birthdays
March 27, 2013Yesterday was my birthday and I am reminded of a quote from Thomas Merton that describes perfectly where I am:
. .if I don’t make it to sixty five, it matters less. I can relax. But life is a gift I am glad of, and I do not curse the day when I was born. On the contrary, if I had never been born I would never have had friends to love and to be loved by, never have made mistakes to be learned by.. and as for what I may have suffered, it is inconsequential, and indeed part of the great good which life has been and will, I hope continue to be.
The Bread of Life
March 25, 2013Jn. 12:1-11
Only Jesus
March 22, 2013A young man just cussed me out because I would not give him money–he is so chained by drug use-and I thought of the words of Damien of Molokai: “Were it not for the constant presence of our divine Master. . .I would not have found it possible to persevere in sharing the lot of the lepers of Molokai.. .I find consolation in my only Companion who never leaves me.” In the pain there is joy. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
The Center
March 22, 2013(Spiritual life . . . ) is the silence of our whole being in compunction and adoration before God, in the habitual realization that He is everything and we are nothing, that He is the Center to which all things tend, and to Whom all our actions must be directed. That our life and strength proceed from Him, that both in life and in death we depend entirely on Him. – Thomas Merton –
(Let these words be expressed as a prayer, requesting of God that you realize the truths they proclaim.)
Keep It Simple
March 21, 2013Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within themselves and their intellect is always with God. – Philokalia (Vol. 1) –
(Keep it simple: love is the measure. Let this be your focus today
The Way of the Cross
March 20, 2013Hospitality
March 19, 2013Whatever you find in your heart to do in following God, that do, and remain within yourself in Him. – Anthony of the Desert –
(Simple enough, but hard to do. What does this mean for you today?)
RADICAL VOLUNTEERISM/RADICAL HOSPITALITY“These are the best of times, and the worst of times,” Charles Dickens said 150 years ago, and we still say it. Each day I find myself amused because of the same articles in the Chronicle about homelessness, rent control, urban growth–the same battles we were fighting 19 years ago when I came to San Francisco. You see not much changes until we grasp the reality until we share equally with one another, stop being so damn greedy, we will continue to have poverty and homelessness, and lack of food.Radical volunteerism or as I prefer to call it, radical hospitality in the age of neglect mans going beyond the expectatons of institutions, and of society, and getting our hands dirty by working with people where they are, and by sharing of what we have.Recently there was an article in the Chronicle about the population increase in the next 17 years or so, the increase in housing being built–but the reality is nothing is said about those who are on the very bottom, the housing being built are for those who have incomes far beyond what we have, and what I see is an increase in poverty and urban poverty and suffering.To me radial volunteerism/radical hospitality challenges the status quo, and calls people to walk with each other in sharing what they have–equally, to simplify their lives. Abrose of Milan who lived from 340-397 said:“The world has been created for everyone’s use, but ;you few rich are trying to keep it for yourselves. For not merely the possession of the earth, but the very sky, the air, and the sea are claimed for the use of the rich few. . .The earth belongs to all not just to the rich.”For me radical volunteerism is radical hospitality–to live simply, to share of our excess, to challenge the system–and to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison. Radical volunteerism is about changing the system beginning with each of us.