Be an epiphany

The way to any universal idea is to proceed through a concrete encounter.  There are a number of ways to say the same thing:  The one is the way to the many, the specific is the way to the spacious, the now is the way to the always, the here is the way to everywhere, the material is the way to the spiritual, the visible is the way to the invisible… we live in a fully sacramental universe, where everything is a pointer and an epiphany….

                                                                        Richard Rohr

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How do we find the Sacred?

How do we find meaning, or peace, or hope?

How do we find love?

Sometimes it feels as if we must somehow transcend this present moment

that we must leave this particular moment behind,

lose ourselves in mystery

to connect with such deep realities

and yet

and yet

perhaps we have it all wrong

Perhaps the answers are not hidden

up there, out there, beyond the stars.

Perhaps the answers are right in front of us

in a child at play

in a stormy fall morning,

in the touch of a hand

the material is the way to the spiritual

the visible is the way to the invisible

everything is a pointer and an epiphany

Jesus was a pointer to the Sacred

An act of kindness a pointer to love

A fall leaf, painted orange and red, a pointer to Sacred creativity

I need to see Sacred everywhere

In everything

In everyone

But more, I need to understand the profound fact,

that I too am a pointer

and that people need to see the Sacred in me

in the way I laugh, play, serve, forgive, give

in the way I love

It is difficult in these times

when we all feel so powerless

to remember the “Scandal of the Particular” (Walter Brueggemman)

that this is how God has always worked

through Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus, Peter, Paul

and now

through you and me

may our lives be a pointer

and an epiphany