Blog # 283 The Year of Faith ( 2012 - 2013) -5
I can imagine many children at one time or another have been told by mothers and fathers to stay away from a hot stove because it will injure them. They could have discovered the same truth by the experience of touching the stove. Experience and faith are two ways we have of discovering truth.
Faith, similar to experience as a revealer of tuth,and as a companion to experience in revealing truth, is not an enemy but a friend. Without faith some significant and consequential truth could not be ours. In the light of this insight we appreciate the value of faith as a friend. I think some people have a fear or hesitation when it comes to accepting the gift of faith because it reveals truth that cannot be ours in the ordinary limited familiar way we have of possessing truth. They may have a feeling it represses or diminishes our freedom when in reality it is a friend of freedom and requires freedom to exist!
However, in spite of whatever it might be that keeps people away from an awareness of our need for faith and a desire for faith, it still remains that not every truth we can imagine and want to know as truth can be discovered by experience. Faith claims and proposes for our acceptance answers to important questions we have that cannot be answered by experience. For example: Is there a single Creator of all that exists? And if so, is that Creator personal, and can we be in a personal relationship with that Creator? Is that Creator benign and worthy of our unconditional trust and total love? Is there conscious life for human creatures beyond their physical death?
These questions, the answers we give to them , and the conclusions we draw from our answers in faith or in lack of faith are of significant importance to the whole human community throughout the world and throughout our human history. There are other questions that are of importance to each of us primarily as they affect us individually.
Our options in responding to such questions are similar to those that are ours with regard to the universal ones and a review of the process of arriving at faith in answer to one set of questions throws light on the process of arriving at faith in answer to the second set.
Here is how the process works with the individual questions. Who is my father and my mother? and Are these five boys living in our house my brothers? I am too young and therefore incompetent to know by experience the truth that comes in answer to these inportant questions. I am confident, however, that I know the truth in question on the testimony of Mary and John Hughes , my mother and father. I am the youngest in a family of six boys. That becomes true for me on the testimony of my mother and father, by faith.
Truth in general can be mine on the testimony of someone whom I take as a reliable witness, by faith. To know truth, whether it by faith or experience, is one thing. To respond to it is another. To know this man is my brother is one thing. To love him is another. So it is with faith. I may know all the answers requred to get an A grade in a religion course at school. To live the truth of those answers in my everyday life, to use it effectively in my quest for holiness, is what the world around me is waiting for and has a right to expect.
One of the 'reasons' I have for loving God as I do is one that I do not remember ever hearing from anyone else as having this reason among the reasons they harbor for loving God. It is very simple. Yet for me it is profound. It came to me when I contrasted experience with faith.
Experience 'captures' 'conquers' 'takes away' freedom. For example: I buy four oranges. That is my experience. I touch them with my fingers. Four. I see them with my eyes.Four. I count them them with my mind. Four. I can lie to you or someone else and contradict my experience by telling you I bought ten oranges but I cannot lie to myself. I have freedom in choosing my experiences but I am not free in determining their content.
In contrast, faith is 'built' on freedom and requires freedom to exist. When it comes to faith, what is proposed for me to believe can be true or not true as far as my limited experience or completence to know is concerned. The choice is mine to make in freedom and trust. In this I find the 'reason' I referred to for loving God more.
When it comes to an act of supernatural faith, there is a personal relationship with God the REVEALER , and that is another 'reason' I have for loving God as I do. GOD ,Infinite, All-Powerful, Unimaginably Good, Loveable Beyond Measure and all the rest of terms we grasp in an analogous way when we try to think and speak of God, HE, YAHWEH, ALLAH, FATHER WORD AND SPIRIT, knowing me personally from a 'time' beyond time and as modern science points out from a distance beyond fifty billion light years away yet HERE AND NOW, gives me, a mere simple limited creature the gift of faith, knowing Him in my unique human capacity and consequently the opportunity of responding to His eternal love with my own love through with and in Jesus the prime witness to Himself and to all that in freedom I believe.
I can imagine it could have been otherwise. We could have been created with other of the wonderful perfections we posses as highly developed creatures but motivated as lower animals are by instinct rather than in freedom. We would do what is right for us and never sin. We could not sin without freedom.
In this Year of Faith I pray that all Catholics will take the invitation of Pope Benedict seriously and make a special effort to grow in our awareness and understanding of the content of our faith and in our response to what be believe in new efforts to grow in holiness, for our own individual sake, for the sake of the Church and the world, and most importantly as a joyful witness to God's love for us and our love for God.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Blog # 282 The Year of Faith (2012 - 2013) - 4
Blog # 282 The Year of Faith ( 2012 - 2013 ) - 4
An important insight into the nature of faith, is the realization that faith is a gift. As gift, faith cannot be bought earned or created through study or desire. Faith must be received. One person or another, or the same person at different stages of his or her life with different circumstances present may be better or less well prepared to receive the gift, but the gift of faith comes to us in no other way than as a gift
received.
I don't think we always realize the importance of defining faith as a gift and consequently do not emphasize this identity of faith strongly and clearly enough in our religious eduction efforts. As a consequence we miss out on some important elements that go along with the process or experience of believing. For example the very word gift implies love, loving and being loved, on the part of both the gift giver and the one receiving the gift. Here is a significant difference from seeing and responding to faith, falsely, as if it were ours under labels such a salary, earnings, an accomplishment , or a reward.
Along with our definition of faith as a gift comes a personal relationhip between the giver and the receiver. The process of believing God should not be treated as a process such as discovering the number of jelly beans in a jar by counting them one by one. In this process the 'revealer' of the information we were seeking is ourselves with no other person required to be present in the room. In the mysterious process of a person coming to a conscious act of faith in God, God, the giver through creation of every creature that exists, always and everywhere present in some way whether we realize this or not, is now present by faith and known as in love with that person, uniquely and by name.
What you have just read is true of course not only with regard to a certain persons's first conscious act of faith but of every genuine conscious act of faith throughout a person's life. How appropriate valuable and joyful it is therefore to maintain a habit of praying the prayer we call an act of faith and which those of us who attended Catholic grade schools and CCD pograms of religious education learned as children. "O my God, I firmly believe that Thou are one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that Thy Divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived. Amen."
There are other insights with regard to faith that could prove useful in our efforts to make this year a Year of Faith so hang on for Blog # 283 - 5.
An important insight into the nature of faith, is the realization that faith is a gift. As gift, faith cannot be bought earned or created through study or desire. Faith must be received. One person or another, or the same person at different stages of his or her life with different circumstances present may be better or less well prepared to receive the gift, but the gift of faith comes to us in no other way than as a gift
received.
I don't think we always realize the importance of defining faith as a gift and consequently do not emphasize this identity of faith strongly and clearly enough in our religious eduction efforts. As a consequence we miss out on some important elements that go along with the process or experience of believing. For example the very word gift implies love, loving and being loved, on the part of both the gift giver and the one receiving the gift. Here is a significant difference from seeing and responding to faith, falsely, as if it were ours under labels such a salary, earnings, an accomplishment , or a reward.
Along with our definition of faith as a gift comes a personal relationhip between the giver and the receiver. The process of believing God should not be treated as a process such as discovering the number of jelly beans in a jar by counting them one by one. In this process the 'revealer' of the information we were seeking is ourselves with no other person required to be present in the room. In the mysterious process of a person coming to a conscious act of faith in God, God, the giver through creation of every creature that exists, always and everywhere present in some way whether we realize this or not, is now present by faith and known as in love with that person, uniquely and by name.
What you have just read is true of course not only with regard to a certain persons's first conscious act of faith but of every genuine conscious act of faith throughout a person's life. How appropriate valuable and joyful it is therefore to maintain a habit of praying the prayer we call an act of faith and which those of us who attended Catholic grade schools and CCD pograms of religious education learned as children. "O my God, I firmly believe that Thou are one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that Thy Divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived. Amen."
There are other insights with regard to faith that could prove useful in our efforts to make this year a Year of Faith so hang on for Blog # 283 - 5.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Blog # 281 The Year of Faith (2012 - 2013) - 3
Blog # 281 The Year of Faith (2012 - 2013 ) - 3
A good place to start in the process of gaining spiritiual profit from our experience of theYear of Faith is to establish the meaning of faith. In its strict theological sense faith is identified with an act of believing, that is, an act of taking something as true on the word of another. It must definitely and clearly be distinguished from an act of taking a guess, having a certain opinion, an act of hope, or of superstition. In a less strict sense faith is sometimes used in a sense of having confidence or trust in another person independently of the element of taking that person's word as true. In this sense it is seen as a preparation or condition for faith in its strict sense. Faith is refered to as natural or supernatural depending upoon whether the revealer of the truth is human or divine.
I looked up the word faith in my concordance and found that it occurs 494 times so it must be important in our task of working out our salvation. In fact some of the texts identified faith not only as more important in a similar category as other virtues that are helpfull on our way , but most important and essentially important in that faith is the foundation for our knowledge of the very reality of God our Creator, and hence of all that stems from and is rooted in that basic truth.
Here are just a few samples of the texts that help us come to our conclusion as to the importance of faith in the Christian economy of salvation. (Wis. 1: 2) "the Lord is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him." (Mat 17: 19) "...if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would be able to say to this mountain, "Move from here to there", and it would move. Nothing would be impossible for you." ( Gal 5: 6 ) "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor the lack of it counts for anything; only faith, which expresses itself through love." (2 Tim 4: 7) I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith." (Heb 11: 6) "...without faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe he exists." ( James 2: 26) " Be assured, then, that faith without works is as dead as a body without breath." (Eph 2: 8) "...salvation is yours through faith." (Rom 4: 20 ). "Abraham never qustioned or doubted God's promise; rather he was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God, fully persuaded that God could do whatever he had promisd."
Faith is a tool, like an alphabet, a saw, a map, a recipe book. A saw hanging in the garage is a saw, but not in its complete meaning until it is sawing. So with the letters of an alphabet, A to Z. Strung togeher they can share the truth of a history book, the beauty of a poem, the wonderful taste of fresh baked Irish soda bread , the memory of home made peach jam and a prayer of thanks for the tree in your back yard and the goodness, skill, and love of your mother when you were just a boy 75 years ago. In these instances the alphabet 'lives', to use the term James gives us in reference to faith.
Here is how the term 'living' works for faith. Let me pose as the revealer. I come before you with a claim that God is real, the sole Creator of us all and of all that exists. Do you believe it? I claim there are and have been many witnesses among us that help us believe and invite us to believe, lives of holy men and women who suffered a great deal and sometimes torture and death for the sake of their faith yet were, through faith, among the happiest of those living around them. Then come the ordinary people like most of us who, through faith, praised and thanked God in prayer and generous love for their neighbor and tasted the joy of believing God's word. The sun helps me believe because it speaks to me of God's power. The bees help me believe because they speak to me of God's wisdom. A mother's self-giving generous love helps me believe because it speaks to me of God's wonderful goodness and love.
There are a few more insights in reference to the Year of Faith we want to consider so hang on for blog # 282.
A good place to start in the process of gaining spiritiual profit from our experience of theYear of Faith is to establish the meaning of faith. In its strict theological sense faith is identified with an act of believing, that is, an act of taking something as true on the word of another. It must definitely and clearly be distinguished from an act of taking a guess, having a certain opinion, an act of hope, or of superstition. In a less strict sense faith is sometimes used in a sense of having confidence or trust in another person independently of the element of taking that person's word as true. In this sense it is seen as a preparation or condition for faith in its strict sense. Faith is refered to as natural or supernatural depending upoon whether the revealer of the truth is human or divine.
I looked up the word faith in my concordance and found that it occurs 494 times so it must be important in our task of working out our salvation. In fact some of the texts identified faith not only as more important in a similar category as other virtues that are helpfull on our way , but most important and essentially important in that faith is the foundation for our knowledge of the very reality of God our Creator, and hence of all that stems from and is rooted in that basic truth.
Here are just a few samples of the texts that help us come to our conclusion as to the importance of faith in the Christian economy of salvation. (Wis. 1: 2) "the Lord is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him." (Mat 17: 19) "...if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would be able to say to this mountain, "Move from here to there", and it would move. Nothing would be impossible for you." ( Gal 5: 6 ) "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor the lack of it counts for anything; only faith, which expresses itself through love." (2 Tim 4: 7) I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith." (Heb 11: 6) "...without faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe he exists." ( James 2: 26) " Be assured, then, that faith without works is as dead as a body without breath." (Eph 2: 8) "...salvation is yours through faith." (Rom 4: 20 ). "Abraham never qustioned or doubted God's promise; rather he was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God, fully persuaded that God could do whatever he had promisd."
Faith is a tool, like an alphabet, a saw, a map, a recipe book. A saw hanging in the garage is a saw, but not in its complete meaning until it is sawing. So with the letters of an alphabet, A to Z. Strung togeher they can share the truth of a history book, the beauty of a poem, the wonderful taste of fresh baked Irish soda bread , the memory of home made peach jam and a prayer of thanks for the tree in your back yard and the goodness, skill, and love of your mother when you were just a boy 75 years ago. In these instances the alphabet 'lives', to use the term James gives us in reference to faith.
Here is how the term 'living' works for faith. Let me pose as the revealer. I come before you with a claim that God is real, the sole Creator of us all and of all that exists. Do you believe it? I claim there are and have been many witnesses among us that help us believe and invite us to believe, lives of holy men and women who suffered a great deal and sometimes torture and death for the sake of their faith yet were, through faith, among the happiest of those living around them. Then come the ordinary people like most of us who, through faith, praised and thanked God in prayer and generous love for their neighbor and tasted the joy of believing God's word. The sun helps me believe because it speaks to me of God's power. The bees help me believe because they speak to me of God's wisdom. A mother's self-giving generous love helps me believe because it speaks to me of God's wonderful goodness and love.
There are a few more insights in reference to the Year of Faith we want to consider so hang on for blog # 282.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Blog # 280 The Year of FAITH (2012 - 2013), 2
BLOG # 280 The Year of fAITH (2012 - 2013) , 2
Pope Benedict's proclamation of a Year of Faith beginning Oct 10. 2012 and ending November 1, 2013 gave me special joy. As I see it, the agenda for the Year focuses for the entire Catholic Church at this particular moment of history the condition of our seven billion fellow human creatures and our responsibility and relationship toward ourselves and them in the light of our Baptismal commitment to God as beleiving Catholic Christians. It should be a time for examining renewing and strengthening our awareness , understanding, and proclamation of our personal individual and worldwide community response in faith to the message that Jesus brought from Heaven of holiness leading to justice love peace joy and eternal life for all people.
My hope is we will be inspired and directed by the attitude and strategy Pope John Paul II called for under the title given it by him as the ' new evangelization' of the world. We will recognize more clearly and explicitly the holiness and presence of God in all of creation and become more aware of the sincerity of others who claim and experience a faith and relationship with God different from our own. Rather than seeing and emphasizing religious experiences that are different from our own as evil or wrong, we will see the good that is present in them and recognize it as good, genuine faith, and God-given, but for the time being as incomplete.
All of this reminds me of a story I presume is imaginary but can be effective in illustrating what I see as our real and serious responsibility as baptized Christians toward our Catholic faith, and the command of Jesus to share that faith thrughout the world.
The story is of a famous tight-rope walker. He set up a tight rope across the Niagra Falls and proclaimed he could push a wheel-barrow across the Falls with any man or woman who would volunteer for it sitting in the wheel-barrow. He announced the date and time for his performance and a huge crowd gathered on both sides of the River to watch. He asked for a volunteer from the crowd. A man climbed the ladder going up to the starting point to stand along-side of the performer who shook the man's hand and said "Thank you, get in". The man believed, trusted, and acted upon his faith. He crossed the river safely,
In real life Jesus is the 'Performer'. The same Jesus who called James and John away from their fishing business and who changed the name and identity of Simon Bar-Jona to Peter the Rock , the same Jesus who claimed to be the promised Messiah of Genesis , God the Creator's Beloved Son, one with the Father yet now born among us as one of us and like us in all but sin, is the same Jesus who calls us to Himself in our particular moment of history, not just someone who is honest and tells the truth but The Truth, not just someone who can talk about where we are going with our lives and knowledgeable about how to get there, but The Way, not just guesssing or hoping there is life beyond the grave but BEing The Life each of us is called to desire seek and eventually share , the same Jesus who invites us to receive in Baptism a new identity and a new relatonship in Him with the Creator of all that exists, and promises for us the value and experience for which all of us hunger and thirst whether we realize it or not, the gift of eternal happiness, through, with, and in Him.
The only way any and all of this can be ours, real, understood ,and accomplished by us is by faith. With living active faith we can be more assured of its reality and more confident in the fulfillment of the promises upon which it rests than we can be assured and confident the sun will rise tomorrow mornng in the east. This is true becuse God never promised the sun would rise tomorrow but He did set his seal on Jesus and promised eternal life in Him.
We will contiue with further insights into the meaning and experience of faith in hope that such a review will help us appreciate more fully and derive more benefit from our experience of our current year as The Year of Faith.
Pope Benedict's proclamation of a Year of Faith beginning Oct 10. 2012 and ending November 1, 2013 gave me special joy. As I see it, the agenda for the Year focuses for the entire Catholic Church at this particular moment of history the condition of our seven billion fellow human creatures and our responsibility and relationship toward ourselves and them in the light of our Baptismal commitment to God as beleiving Catholic Christians. It should be a time for examining renewing and strengthening our awareness , understanding, and proclamation of our personal individual and worldwide community response in faith to the message that Jesus brought from Heaven of holiness leading to justice love peace joy and eternal life for all people.
My hope is we will be inspired and directed by the attitude and strategy Pope John Paul II called for under the title given it by him as the ' new evangelization' of the world. We will recognize more clearly and explicitly the holiness and presence of God in all of creation and become more aware of the sincerity of others who claim and experience a faith and relationship with God different from our own. Rather than seeing and emphasizing religious experiences that are different from our own as evil or wrong, we will see the good that is present in them and recognize it as good, genuine faith, and God-given, but for the time being as incomplete.
All of this reminds me of a story I presume is imaginary but can be effective in illustrating what I see as our real and serious responsibility as baptized Christians toward our Catholic faith, and the command of Jesus to share that faith thrughout the world.
The story is of a famous tight-rope walker. He set up a tight rope across the Niagra Falls and proclaimed he could push a wheel-barrow across the Falls with any man or woman who would volunteer for it sitting in the wheel-barrow. He announced the date and time for his performance and a huge crowd gathered on both sides of the River to watch. He asked for a volunteer from the crowd. A man climbed the ladder going up to the starting point to stand along-side of the performer who shook the man's hand and said "Thank you, get in". The man believed, trusted, and acted upon his faith. He crossed the river safely,
In real life Jesus is the 'Performer'. The same Jesus who called James and John away from their fishing business and who changed the name and identity of Simon Bar-Jona to Peter the Rock , the same Jesus who claimed to be the promised Messiah of Genesis , God the Creator's Beloved Son, one with the Father yet now born among us as one of us and like us in all but sin, is the same Jesus who calls us to Himself in our particular moment of history, not just someone who is honest and tells the truth but The Truth, not just someone who can talk about where we are going with our lives and knowledgeable about how to get there, but The Way, not just guesssing or hoping there is life beyond the grave but BEing The Life each of us is called to desire seek and eventually share , the same Jesus who invites us to receive in Baptism a new identity and a new relatonship in Him with the Creator of all that exists, and promises for us the value and experience for which all of us hunger and thirst whether we realize it or not, the gift of eternal happiness, through, with, and in Him.
The only way any and all of this can be ours, real, understood ,and accomplished by us is by faith. With living active faith we can be more assured of its reality and more confident in the fulfillment of the promises upon which it rests than we can be assured and confident the sun will rise tomorrow mornng in the east. This is true becuse God never promised the sun would rise tomorrow but He did set his seal on Jesus and promised eternal life in Him.
We will contiue with further insights into the meaning and experience of faith in hope that such a review will help us appreciate more fully and derive more benefit from our experience of our current year as The Year of Faith.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Blog # 279 Blessings
# 279 Blessings
I wanted to get another blog out today dealing with the Year of Faith but after working on it almost all morning I had very little on the page. So rather than take the chance of not getting a blog out today and leave another large gap between them I looked into some notes I had typed back in 1986 and found what I will share with you now. I don't know where I got it in the first place but it is not original. May the Lord bless the person who gave it to me, whoever he or she may be! It was a blessing for me back in '86 and again today as I am sharing it with you.
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Holy One, our God, giver of all life and beauty, You love us into being every moment of our lives. Thank You for calling us - alone and together, into the journey of life. Bless us with the gift of vision ...to see your beauty around us and within us, to delight in the lavish gifts of your wonderful creation. Bless us with vision!
Bless us with the gift of courage ...to understand the meaning and value of the darkness and pain of the journey, to stand with those who suffer and ache. Teach our minds and hearts to receive and share your faithful love. Bless us with courage !
Bless us with the gift of gentleness ... to walk through our joys and pains, especially the growing times, with your gentle love. Teach us to be gentle with our sisters and brothers as we share the wonder of living. Bless us with gentleness !
Bless us with the gift of creativity ... to help us brave new grounds, to test new horizons , to risk and trust being co-creators with You, transforming creation according to your vision of peace and justice. Bless us with creativity !
Bless us with the gift of compassion ... to see the interconnectedness of all life, to celebrate with warm hearts your healing presence in and through us.
Bless us with compassion !
And bless us with the grace to recognize your gifts in all that we shall ever have, to recognize and call them for a time our own so that we will have something to give us joy and something of our joy to give to others. Amen !
I wanted to get another blog out today dealing with the Year of Faith but after working on it almost all morning I had very little on the page. So rather than take the chance of not getting a blog out today and leave another large gap between them I looked into some notes I had typed back in 1986 and found what I will share with you now. I don't know where I got it in the first place but it is not original. May the Lord bless the person who gave it to me, whoever he or she may be! It was a blessing for me back in '86 and again today as I am sharing it with you.
++ + ++
Holy One, our God, giver of all life and beauty, You love us into being every moment of our lives. Thank You for calling us - alone and together, into the journey of life. Bless us with the gift of vision ...to see your beauty around us and within us, to delight in the lavish gifts of your wonderful creation. Bless us with vision!
Bless us with the gift of courage ...to understand the meaning and value of the darkness and pain of the journey, to stand with those who suffer and ache. Teach our minds and hearts to receive and share your faithful love. Bless us with courage !
Bless us with the gift of gentleness ... to walk through our joys and pains, especially the growing times, with your gentle love. Teach us to be gentle with our sisters and brothers as we share the wonder of living. Bless us with gentleness !
Bless us with the gift of creativity ... to help us brave new grounds, to test new horizons , to risk and trust being co-creators with You, transforming creation according to your vision of peace and justice. Bless us with creativity !
Bless us with the gift of compassion ... to see the interconnectedness of all life, to celebrate with warm hearts your healing presence in and through us.
Bless us with compassion !
And bless us with the grace to recognize your gifts in all that we shall ever have, to recognize and call them for a time our own so that we will have something to give us joy and something of our joy to give to others. Amen !
Blog # 278 A Treasure
Blog # 278 A Treasure
Recently I have been reading some of the many pages of notes I assembled through the years. Blog # 278 is a copy of some thoughts that date back 24 years. It tells of an incident that I think could have happened yesterday.
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If, one day this week, while digging in the back yard, I found a million dollars wrapped in a package, you could use a bit of it, right? Well, actually I found more than a million dollars, and I want to share it with you.
In the case of the million dollars, I would have had to be digging, be able to recognize a dollar, and to be able to count to a million in order to know what I had done and what had happened in my life. So with what I actually discovered . I needed to be looking, searching, working, open, focused, available, and other possible descriptive words in order for the incident to happen. I would have had to be able to recognize a value that was beyond sight, sound, touch, taste and smell to recognize the value I had found. This is just as I would have had to recognize what money can buy to recognize what I had found if I had found a million dollars, in itself just paper, but for someone who knows, a much more valuable realty than paper.
What I found was an egg. A gold egg? No, just an egg. I found it in a nest I had set up in a coop where six chickens, hatched out just six months ago, lived. I was happy to find it and took it into the house. The next morning I was preparing to have it for breakfast and I began to think about the whole indicent while waiting for the egg to boil. What do you think I found when I creaked it open? Right, an egg, just like so many other eggs I had for breakfast through these many years of my life.
But this egg was beginning to be special.
Size, shape, color, texture, and taste were very much the same as any egg. Egg white, egg yolk right in the center. The same. The difference began to show in my response to the egg. I began to ask what it really was, beyond what I saw, the why of it, and how it came to be. The egg was not in the nest yesterday, and the mother hen was herself merely an egg just six months ago . A prefect shape, the color of the yolk just right, the wonderful taste of a fresh egg. What all went into it was the question on my mind.
Time, merely six months, corn, earth, water, sunshine, and grass all must have had something to do with my egg. But none of these, nor all of them together could explain sufficiently the fact the egg was so much like all other eggs in size and shape, color and taste. None of the chickens in that particular coop had ever laid an egg .
Who taught the mother hen how to make an egg? Yes, the corn and the grass water and sunshine had something to do with it, but not all, nor in themselves. To think there was not some reality beyond these would have been like receiving a package in the mail from someone who loves you in Chicago and thinking it came merely from the local post office. So I let my mind be touched by God, and began to imagine and praise the Designer, Gift-giver, Someone-Who-Loves-Me, Creator, Wisdom, Goodness, Presence, My God!
I had discovered far more than a million dollars in that egg. Scripture texts began to come to mind. “Look to the birds of the air”…and to chickens. “The Father cares for them…how much more you!”
May you receive many eggs in your life! May all that you call your own remind you of the Lord and call you to praise and joy. May Jesus, God-Come-Among-Us, God’s Greatest Gift, be your Great Teacher and Friend. May His goodness, wisdom, generosity, and joy dwell in us always.
I love you!
Recently I have been reading some of the many pages of notes I assembled through the years. Blog # 278 is a copy of some thoughts that date back 24 years. It tells of an incident that I think could have happened yesterday.
++ + ++
If, one day this week, while digging in the back yard, I found a million dollars wrapped in a package, you could use a bit of it, right? Well, actually I found more than a million dollars, and I want to share it with you.
In the case of the million dollars, I would have had to be digging, be able to recognize a dollar, and to be able to count to a million in order to know what I had done and what had happened in my life. So with what I actually discovered . I needed to be looking, searching, working, open, focused, available, and other possible descriptive words in order for the incident to happen. I would have had to be able to recognize a value that was beyond sight, sound, touch, taste and smell to recognize the value I had found. This is just as I would have had to recognize what money can buy to recognize what I had found if I had found a million dollars, in itself just paper, but for someone who knows, a much more valuable realty than paper.
What I found was an egg. A gold egg? No, just an egg. I found it in a nest I had set up in a coop where six chickens, hatched out just six months ago, lived. I was happy to find it and took it into the house. The next morning I was preparing to have it for breakfast and I began to think about the whole indicent while waiting for the egg to boil. What do you think I found when I creaked it open? Right, an egg, just like so many other eggs I had for breakfast through these many years of my life.
But this egg was beginning to be special.
Size, shape, color, texture, and taste were very much the same as any egg. Egg white, egg yolk right in the center. The same. The difference began to show in my response to the egg. I began to ask what it really was, beyond what I saw, the why of it, and how it came to be. The egg was not in the nest yesterday, and the mother hen was herself merely an egg just six months ago . A prefect shape, the color of the yolk just right, the wonderful taste of a fresh egg. What all went into it was the question on my mind.
Time, merely six months, corn, earth, water, sunshine, and grass all must have had something to do with my egg. But none of these, nor all of them together could explain sufficiently the fact the egg was so much like all other eggs in size and shape, color and taste. None of the chickens in that particular coop had ever laid an egg .
Who taught the mother hen how to make an egg? Yes, the corn and the grass water and sunshine had something to do with it, but not all, nor in themselves. To think there was not some reality beyond these would have been like receiving a package in the mail from someone who loves you in Chicago and thinking it came merely from the local post office. So I let my mind be touched by God, and began to imagine and praise the Designer, Gift-giver, Someone-Who-Loves-Me, Creator, Wisdom, Goodness, Presence, My God!
I had discovered far more than a million dollars in that egg. Scripture texts began to come to mind. “Look to the birds of the air”…and to chickens. “The Father cares for them…how much more you!”
May you receive many eggs in your life! May all that you call your own remind you of the Lord and call you to praise and joy. May Jesus, God-Come-Among-Us, God’s Greatest Gift, be your Great Teacher and Friend. May His goodness, wisdom, generosity, and joy dwell in us always.
I love you!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Blog # 277 YEAR OF FAITH- 2012 - 13
Blog # 277 Year of Faith 2012 - 13
A major focus Pope Benedict has designated for the Year of Faith which begins for us next Wednesday, October 10, is Adult Faith Formation. Normally when we think of religious education programs in local parishes our focus rests upon religion classses in our Catholic schools and CCD programs for our children. But in our particular moment of history , the Holy Father rightly recognizes a real and serious threat to the faith of us all and especially anyone who is not well grounded both in the knowledge and positive experience of the basic truths that have been handed down to us generation after generation back to the origins of the Church and Jesus Himself.
The Year of Faith is a call to each of us no matter where we stand at the present time in our relationship with God and the Church to grow in our awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the content and value of our faith and in our experience of a personal love for God and one another.
If we are only willing to remain ever the same as we were, there is no room or possibility for growth. To grow in faith as I see it we must be willing and prepared to grow in creativity, curiosity, discovery, excitement, wonder, freedom, and joy. May we , one by one, and as a faith community ever listen for the Holy Spirit to call us from where we are, emotionaly, spirituallly, physically, to places closer to Himself !
Years ago when I was Pastor of a parish out in Akansas, in preparation for our four weeks of Advent, to help us in our quest to make the time and opportunity an experience of growth in holiness, the remainder of this blog was part of the content of our Sunday bulletin the week before Advent. I am using it for myself again this year in preparation for a fruitful Year of Faith and hope it might be useful to you as well. It works better when you use it not as a test but as an invitation.
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What do I think of when I think of God ? When and how often do I think of God?
Could I explain to someone what it means to pray ? Do I pray ? When ? Why? Why not?
If I were looking at myself from the outside or writing a book about myself how would I describe myself ?
What do I like most about myself ? What do I dislike most about myself ?
Is there anything I would like to have more/less of in my life? What? Why ?
Am I changing in any way ? How? When ? Why? Why not ?
What does it mean to belong to the Church ? Do I care whether my neighbors belong to the Church? Why? Why not ?
What 'happens' when we 'go' to Mass ? Why?
What do I think of when I think of death ? Why ?
Who is Jesus? Where is Jesus ? How do I know ?
What part does the Bible play in my life ?
Am I happy? Why? Why not ?
WOW !
A major focus Pope Benedict has designated for the Year of Faith which begins for us next Wednesday, October 10, is Adult Faith Formation. Normally when we think of religious education programs in local parishes our focus rests upon religion classses in our Catholic schools and CCD programs for our children. But in our particular moment of history , the Holy Father rightly recognizes a real and serious threat to the faith of us all and especially anyone who is not well grounded both in the knowledge and positive experience of the basic truths that have been handed down to us generation after generation back to the origins of the Church and Jesus Himself.
The Year of Faith is a call to each of us no matter where we stand at the present time in our relationship with God and the Church to grow in our awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the content and value of our faith and in our experience of a personal love for God and one another.
If we are only willing to remain ever the same as we were, there is no room or possibility for growth. To grow in faith as I see it we must be willing and prepared to grow in creativity, curiosity, discovery, excitement, wonder, freedom, and joy. May we , one by one, and as a faith community ever listen for the Holy Spirit to call us from where we are, emotionaly, spirituallly, physically, to places closer to Himself !
Years ago when I was Pastor of a parish out in Akansas, in preparation for our four weeks of Advent, to help us in our quest to make the time and opportunity an experience of growth in holiness, the remainder of this blog was part of the content of our Sunday bulletin the week before Advent. I am using it for myself again this year in preparation for a fruitful Year of Faith and hope it might be useful to you as well. It works better when you use it not as a test but as an invitation.
++++ +++++ ++++
What do I think of when I think of God ? When and how often do I think of God?
Could I explain to someone what it means to pray ? Do I pray ? When ? Why? Why not?
If I were looking at myself from the outside or writing a book about myself how would I describe myself ?
What do I like most about myself ? What do I dislike most about myself ?
Is there anything I would like to have more/less of in my life? What? Why ?
Am I changing in any way ? How? When ? Why? Why not ?
What does it mean to belong to the Church ? Do I care whether my neighbors belong to the Church? Why? Why not ?
What 'happens' when we 'go' to Mass ? Why?
What do I think of when I think of death ? Why ?
Who is Jesus? Where is Jesus ? How do I know ?
What part does the Bible play in my life ?
Am I happy? Why? Why not ?
WOW !
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