Welcome

Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Saturday, October 31, 2015

Death Working Backward

there are moments
when caught unawares
our soul is startled
by winged birds
and mottled sky
by sun dance
and moon glow
by the morning cry
of the wild geese
and the mournful lament
of the owl at dusk
and then the heart sees
mysteries unfold
and the torn and threadbare fabric
of our corrupted self
begins to knit together
death
working
backward

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Where does compassion come from?

"I cannot worry much about your sins and miseries when I have so many of my own. I can only love you all, poor fellow travelers, fellow sufferers. . . . My prayer from day to day is that God will so enlarge my heart that I will see you all, and live with you all, in His love."
                                                                                      Day, Dorothy Day, Selected Writings, 88.
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where does compassion come from?
where does compassion live?

compassion and kindness
can only emerge
when I have wrestled in my our soul
in the depths of who I am

with my own miseries

and found there
in the context of Sacred Presence
my own comfort
and acceptance

then with heart full
“I will see you all, and live with you all,
in His love."

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Heart Songs

What we feel matters much more than what we know. –
                                                                        George Moore
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There is something precious about a feeling
There is also something dangerous

A feeling comes from the heart
dredged up from a deep place in the soul
wild and unbidden

raging

wild

tragic or ecstatic

driving us into action
for good or ill

it often matters little what we know
logic often has little to do with it

sometimes we wish
our heart songs
would simply fade away
into the dull anonymity of our thoughts

but the song goes on
piercing us with
pain or
joy

and making us
truly
alive

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

The nimble joyful mystery

“I need a God who is bigger and more nimble and mysterious than what I could understand and contrive. Otherwise it can feel like I am worshipping nothing more than my own ability to understand the divine.”
Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

"O Lord, ooh, You are so big, so absolutely huge. Gosh, we're all really impressed down here, I can tell you. Forgive us, O Lord, for this, our dreadful toadying and bare-faced flattery, but You are so strong, and, well, just so super fantastic. Amen."
                                                Monty Python, “The Meaning of Life”
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I’ve got my “God Box” ready

if I work hard enough
I can make God fit

Ok
I might have to trim God down a bit
get rid of the things I don’t like
or that make me uncomfortable

there is that love your enemies thing
and that “give away all that you have”
that too

and die to live?
really?

it is all so confusing

perhaps

I might have to live with the idea
that God might never
actually
fit in my box

and live with
the nimble
joyful
mystery

Monday, October 26, 2015

In search of Peace

Thomas Merton writes of Gandhi that "the spirit of non-violence sprang from an inner realization of spiritual unity in himself. The whole Gandhian concept of non-violent action and satyagraha [literally, truth force] is incomprehensible if it is thought to be a means of achieving unity rather than as the fruit of inner unity already achieved."

Gandhi believed the core of his--and our--being is union with God. From this awareness, nonviolence must flow naturally and consistently. In his words:

Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being.
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If God is love
(and I believe Sacred is all love)

and if God dwells within each Sacred Child

and if we live out
that Sacred Presence

we should be people of love

indeed if we have achieved some degree of spiritual unity
with the Sacred we carry
then we cannot help but be people of love

love will flow from us
naturally
for love will be what we are

this day
surrounded by fear and anger
hearing the voices of those who say
the only way to answer anger is with anger
hate with hate
guns with more guns

only the presence of God within
saves us

and enables us to have love
be love

it is a staggering task
to seek to be people of love in a world of
hate and violence

But we have sacred presence
and we can live differently

we start by finding that love
at our core
and we put on the clothing of love

we start
with God, finding loving unity
and then we move to ourselves
and then we live love with those nearest to our heart

and then perhaps
we can live love toward that person at work
that person on the street
that person whose very way of being
violates our comfort zone

this is not for the faint of heart
it is for people with hearts
united
with God