Psalm 46:10a

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I AM.

Be still and know

Be still.

Be.


Pax

De Profundis

This article about the rescue of the Chilean Miners is absolutely amazing, but then so is our God.

Out of the Depths

How powerful prayer can be,  and what a testament to the power of everyone working together not just on the technical side but on the spiritual side as well.

Pax

Did You See What I Saw?

We watched the movie:  "The Invention of Lying"  the other night. It was ultimately intended as a comedy but I think it was also intended as an attack at organized religion and any belief in God at all.   Spoiler alert:  if you haven't yet seen the movie there are a few plot points revealed in the next few paragraphs.

 The people live in a world where not only do they always speak the truth, but they also must be brutally honest and have no filtering mechanism whatsoever.  In other words they say exactly what is on their minds in a very unvarnished way.  Then one man inadvertently discoverers that he can lie and because no one else does people believe what he says.  He begins to lie to make the world better for himself, creating a world the way he wants it to be.

When he visits his mother in the hospital and her Dr. has informed her that she will most likely die that day and it will be all over. The son panics and tells his mom whatever he can think of about an afterlife that he thinks will make her happy as she dies, and the Dr and Nurses hear him.   When word gets out that he knows what happens after you die he has to explain how he knows so he makes up a reason for how he came to know this information and what it all means.  No matter how simple the message he was trying to impart, people kept twisting it or hearing what they wanted to hear or just jumbling it into a huge mess, so he kept having to add more and more detail


It was really interesting to me as a commentary on the difficult task of the theologian.  Theologians have the task of creating apprehension of the ineffable.  They try to keep their explanations simple, but just like the man in the movie, no matter how simply they try, people hear what they want to hear, or get the message muddled.  The theologian thinks his message is very clear yet the hearers can't or won't hear it as clearly as he presents it.

Or maybe I was just projecting my own frustrations at trying to write simple essays on theology into this little film. 

Why don't you see the movie and tell me what you think.

Pax

God is Talking Again

I want to introduce you to a new friend of mine. His name is Spencer and he is six years old. He lives in a comic strip called Knocking on Heaven's Door Spencer lives with his mom and his dad and his little sister Ruby and has a pretty normal life except that Spencer's best friend is God and he has the most amazing conversations with God on a daily basis.

Spencer and his family are the creation of Comedian Tommy Blaze and Mad Magazine Illustrator Nate Fakes. If you are like me and have really missed Calvin and Hobbes you will love Spencer. You should give it a try. Follow the link above, which is also permanently on my sidebar and read through them for yourself.

Pax

Practice . . .

is one of those words that no one likes to hear, or think about. It has such bad connotations. Boring drills and repetitive mind numbing action of doing the same things over and over again thousands upon thousands of times. Perhaps that is why the word practice is so foreign to our understanding of the spiritual life. We don't want our spiritual life to be boring or repetitive or the same thing done over and over again.

Yet, the same principle that makes a golfer wanting to hone his short game hit thousands of chip shots day after day, is the same principle that could be applied to anyone who wants to grow in the spiritual life as well. If there isn't some form of practice going on there can be no growth.

Of course, I could take my golf clubs and hit chip shots all day every day, and I will never be as skilled at golf as Tiger Woods, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try. And just because Tiger Woods has so much innate talent doesn't mean he just sits back and rests without any practice at all. In fact just this year in an interview he stated that since his recent knee surgery he has been able to spend much more time practicing and he has noticed a decided improvement in the quality of his game because he was spending more time on the range and the practice green. Imagine that, Tiger Woods admitting that his game improves when he has more time to practice.

So, we should spend time in the practice of the spiritual life. But how? That is something that is very individual. We tend to know what we need to work on. How you practice your spiritual discipline is a very individual pursuit. There are a few standard fundamentals that will help anyone grow in the spiritual discipline if we practice them:

Immerse yourself in the Word -- Pick up your bible and read a few chapters every day. You can actually get through the entire bible in less than a year if you make a practice of reading a bit each day. Find a translation that you like and understand (there are many, some more conversational than others, some more flowery) Don't worry about the boring, listy parts, skim them quickly or just skip over them: I had a Professor in Gradual School who gave us all a list entitled Reading the bible without having to read any of the boring bits, and it listed which specific repetitive chapters to skip.)

Talk to God (pray) every day --, in whatever way you feel most comfortable. For some people this will mean doing a set group of rote prayers morning and evening. For some people this will mean setting aside time for meditation or contemplation. For some people this will mean practicing the presence of God, or cultivating a lifestyle where they always feel as though they are in God's presence and are in communication with God. For some people it may mean small , sticky note, arrow (the old term for these was ejaculation) prayers throughout the day. For some people, the greatest form of daily prayer is to participate in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Church, These are a set pattern of psalms, responses and readings that all clergy and religious of the church pray every day, and can be prayed by anyone who wants to join in.

The most important thing about prayer isn't how you do it, it is that you do it.


Learn something new -- there are many ways to accomplish this, you could read spiritual readings, listen to or watch something enriching, go to lectures or to Mass or your worship service if you aren't Catholic.

You could join with a group of friends and actually study the bible you have been reading, that is a very different form of immersion, to study the word. To look at the context of the time in which it was written and the people to whom the story is speaking in that time and what that story meant for them and then what that same story means now.

You could join a group of friends for prayer and support in the Christian walk. Get together once a week to support each other, pray for each other's needs and give each other guidance and love. We all can learn something from each other if we take the time to really listen to each other.


Reach Out -- Action is part of the spiritual growth process. Every week you would be doing something for others. It doesn't have to be something grand or amazing like a mission trip to some foreign country, it might just be dropping off some canned goods at the food pantry, or stopping in at the nursing home to visit someone from your church who lives there now. Mother Teresa used to say we didn't have to do great things we just had to do small things with great joy. My prayer each morning is that God will make me aware of the people and situations that have been placed in my path that day so that I may serve the Kingdom. Then when I am faced with a chance to help someone with a heavy load at the grocery, or a few extra minutes of my time for a chat I think of that as my gift to God and not an inconvenience at all.


I think if you start practicing these simple things every day, your spiritual life will grow in amazing ways; ways you would never have imagined. God has a plan for your life, and you have to participate in that plan in the same way that Tiger Woods has to participate in the plan for his career. Think about having a spiritual life more amazing as Tiger Woods' golf career. With practice it could happen.

Pax

Mystic Monday

Today dear children our quote comes from The Cloud of Unknowing.

This work, by an anonymous 14th century British author, has some of the most beautiful imagery of God, but is extremely hard to read if you try to read it for comprehension. (at least that has been my experience). The first two or three times I tried to read The Cloud of Unknowing I got completely lost in the images. Perhaps I just wasn't ready for it yet.

A Jesuit priest who used to work in our diocese would say just that, I wasn't ready to understand it before and that is why I struggled so when I tried before.

Anyway the section I have chosen to share with you is one that I think everyone can enjoy and gain something from without having to sit with for long, or can sit with for a day and really pull it apart and go much more deeply if one chooses.

Be attentive to time and the way you spend it. Nothing is more
precious. This is evident when you recall that in one tiny moment heaven may be
gained or lost. God, the master of time, never gives the future. He gives only
the present moment by moment. . .

If you are really interested in this book, here is the online downloadable version from CCEL.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a great online resource for public domain Christian classics. Bookmark the site for use later.

Pax

Starbucks' Anti-God Coffee Cup

Okay, I was a bit upset with their liberal leaning public service, but this has gone too far.

I am with the woman in the story. When I go in to Starbucks on Friday mornings for a cup of coffee I don't want religious debate, I just want a cup of coffee.

If Starbucks can't give me a cup of coffee free of anti-God sentiment I will have to take my business somewhere else. Besides who in their right mind wants debate with their morning coffee? Not me!



h/t to Karen Hall for the link.

Pax