October 31  Lk. 13:31-35

When St. Ignatius suggests that we look on the world as God does, we might have this image of Jesus in mind as he looked on Jerusalem–I think of this City–so much beauty, so much good on the one hand-=so much greed and darkness on the other–one walks from the beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge,to the darkness of the alleys of the Tenderloin–and God’s heart yearns for them. Jesus accepted the Cross not only in his crucifixion but in the many small choices that led him to Jerusalem–and so have I–I walk the way of the Cross, with my eyes open, ande I give thanks to God for bringing me on this path. As Buddha said:

“First, live a compassionate life. Then you will know.” ~ Buddha

October 30, 2013, Romans 8:26-36, Luke 13:25-29

Jesus sounds harsh, but what he is addressing is a nominal or cultural sort of Christianity. What makes one Christian is dying to self, and rising to new life in Jesus Christ, a new life full of the Holy Spirit that finds expression in the love and service offered to God and one another.  Thios transformation of life is the way of our salvation in Christ and the foundation of our idenity as Christians–to love God, to love our neighbor–these are what make us Christian.  Last night we fed a hundred plus homeless individuals, and in each face I saw the Christ, each one calls me to die to myself each day, each one reminds me that God loves me and calls me to love others.

Will Tuttle gives for me a good summary:

So what are we, and what are animals? Our concepts only reveal our impeding conditioning. We are neighbors, mysteries, and we are all manifestations of the eternal light of the infinite consciousness that has birthed and maintains what we call the universe. The intuitive knowing that would reveal this to us, though, is mostly unavailable because as a culture we are outer-directed and fail to cultivate the inner resources and discipline that would allow us to access this deeper wisdom.

Hope

October 29, 2013 Romans 8:18-25; Lk. 13:18-21  “Hope”

I am often asks what keeps me going, without despair–and Paul sums it up: “In hope we already have salvation. But if we saw what we hoped for, there would no longer be hope: how can we hope for whatwe is already seen? So we hope for what we do not see and we will receive it through patient hope.” It is hope that has sustained me when I have been injured, sick, near death, without money, alone–and it is hope which gets me up in the morning and it is in hope that I go to bed in trust in Christ. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

The Ender’s Game

October 28, 2013, St. Simon and St. Jude

“The Ender’s Game”

Eph. 2:19-22–“Now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather you are fellow citizens with God’s people and you belong to God’s household. . .”

The Enders Game by Orson Scott Card is a science fiction novel about a pre-teen trained to be the leader who would destroy the threat of Spiders against the earth. After the win and the boy grows up he comes to see the spiders as salient beings, who really wanted to be friends and we attacked them, and as the book ends he is carrying their last womb to another plan talking of peace.

Yesterday their was an article in the paper about homelessness, another about the high rents, and another about the low taxes on google.  The City is putting together another plan to deal with pan handlers and poverty.  The reality is that we need to back off from our greed, our lust for power, for possessions, for money and become citizens of all people and share what we have.  Like Ender we need to grow into people who see beauty in all around us–to appreciate the differences, to love each other, and to take care of each other.  We need to become “fellow citizens of the household of God.”  

Cruelty to animals is as if man did not love God…there is something so dreadful, so satanic, in tormenting those who have never harmed us, and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power.” ~ Cardinal John Henry Newman Cardinal Neuman which for me sums it all up for me:

October 27, 2 Tim. 4:6-18

Paul writes:  “I’m already being poured out as a sacrifice to God. . .”  and from the Principles of St. Ignatius: “Our only desire and our one choice should be this:  I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.”  People asked me alot, “Why do you do your work?” “Why do you live the life you do?”  “Why do you suffer?” I fumble around for words in a society that wants quick fixes, easy answers–and for me Paul and Ignatius answers it best–I want to what leads me to God and deepening his life in  me, and that is giving myself for others.  My life is simply a continuing evolution, and will only end when I die, and until then I will try to pour my life out as a sacrifice to God.

By living the truth of compassion in our meals and daily lives, we can create a field of peace, love, and freedom that can radiate into our world and bless others by silently and subtly encouraging the same in them.Dr. Will Tuttle

October 21, Luke 12:13-21  “Greed”

Luke’s parable promises liberation from the perpetual dissatisfaction that prevents us from finding happiness in what we have.  We can live happily when we take satisfaction in what we have.,  I see people who have absolutely nothing who are happy because in their inner lives they are satisfied, and fulfilled.  Greed is destructive to us spiritually because it separates us from our fellow human beings–our brothers and sisters. Only when we open our hearts and share with what we have, will all be physically be taken care of, and spiritually that would repair us by allowing us to be connected to our brothers and sisters.

The following quote speaks to us today:

The power to appreciate and to open the heart is indispensible to the awakening and the maintenance of the mystical appetite. But all the raptures they bring put together are not so effective as the icy chill of a disappointment in knowing that you alone, my God, are stable. It is through sorrow, and not through joy, that your Godhead gradually assumes, in our sentient faculty, the higher Reality in the nature of things. – Teilhard de Chardin, Writings in Times of War

(“. . . you alone, my God, are stable.”  Rest in the awareness of God’s abiding love and presence.)

 

2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Lk. 18:1-8

Tonight as I moved through the alleys there were people of all colors sleeping, and trying to sleep, young and old; I thought of the Timothy’s text: I preach the Word in season and out of season; I feed, Iisten, I care–whether I feel like it or not; and it is often their persistence that forces me to when I really would rather just not talk–but that is my call and I am thankful each day to have another day to preach the Word, whether it is in season or out of season;  Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! 

October 19 Isacc Jorques and  John de  Brebauf, companions and Martyrs

St. Teres of the Little Flower said the first part of the 20th century “All times are dangerous times,” and they are.  Starvation strikes, homelessness–all are a part of our lives, and the words of Dorothy Day speak today: “We must live just live by faith, and the faith that God is good, that all times are in his hands, must be tried as though by fire.” We must live our lives with courage and with witness to the care of a loving God that will sustain us through life.  We need to take time to meditate in the midst of the noises and cries of our time.

Will Tuttle sums that up:

We can see that in general, the more a culture oppresses animals, the greater its inner agitation and numbness, and the more extroverted and dominating it tends to be. This is related to the scarcity of meditation in Western cultures, where people are uncomfortable with sitting still. Quiet, open contemplation would allow the repressed guilt and violence of the animal cruelty in meals to emerge to be healed and released. Instead, the very activities that would be most beneficial to people of our herding culture are the activities that are the most studiously avoided. We have become a culture that craves noise, distraction, busyness, and entertainment at all costs. This allows our eaten violence to remain buried, blocked, denied, and righteously projected.

 

The Ignatian Focus for this week has been: “I reflect on the sin of angels: the exquisite beings, once beautiful and intelligent, rebelled, and were transformed from creatures of grace to embodiments of malice.” (The Spiritual Exercises 50).  Ps. 139 tells cries out, “Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my thoughts.”

Each day as I do the Examen, I am so aware of my own evil in my heart, and how I try to over come it, I am reminded of the malice that has caused and causes people pain. I see malice so intimately in the lives of others each day of my life, here the pain and see the pain, and touch the pain resulting from that malice. All I know to do is to turn to God and examine my life, and seek to cut that malice out, and pray for God’s grace, and then live out that grace into the lives others as best I can. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

The Unique Self

As I reflected on the Lectionary text today this book stands out. The text is about the ten lepers and only one came back to thank Jesus for the healing.  He is his unique self. This book is about developing our unique selves.  Rather then seeking glory, money, power, prestige one should appreciate and love him or herself for their uniqueness. My sense is the author would like to see a creation of a world religion removing the prejudices and the biases in the various religions. For me, a part my unique self is being a follower of Jesus, letting go of the institutional prejudices but practicing the basic theme of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, “To love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.  One quote stood out for me:

“Peace will come into the world when each person can hear themselves for who they are, without needing to drown out all the other voices.” Marc Gafni

When we accept each other in our own uniqueness–there will be peace. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to