Category: Spiritual

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The moon

Tonight after arriving home and exiting my car I looked up. The night sky was clear and glistened with stars, a quarter moon and at least one aircraft moving slowly with blinky lights from south to north. Tonight is one of those nights that invites us to be still and look not just at the lights but at the space between them. Without those dark spots there would be no contrast for the lovely stars. Even today as I lamented an imagined transgression I failed to be grateful for the dark spots in my life. Without the dark there is no light. Without the dark there is no moon. I’m thankful then that there is this moon that also invites me to a prayerful moment of quiet and in that quiet there is a moment of gratitude for this starlit night in the month of June 2011.

Tonight I am reminded of a Zen story from antiquity and this is but one version of that story.

“The truth and the words are unrelated.  The truth can be compared the to the moon.  And words can be compared to a finger. I can use my finger to point out the moon, but my finger is not the moon, and you don’t need my finger to see the moon, do you?”

Language is merely a tool for pointing out the truth, a means to help us attain enlightenment.  To mistake words for the truth is almost as ridiculous as mistaking a finger for the moon!”

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Incarnation Spirituality

This is one of my favorite articles on the Incarnation. When I first heard this about ten years ago it made sense to me. Prior to that time I had always felt ill at ease with other explanations of the theology of creation and the place of Christ in the universe. This made sense to me then and it does now. I think of this often and share it now for anyone who happens upon this blog in search of a deeper understanding of creation. The sin centered universe never made any sense to me. This does and it really precedes the other way of thinking.

The Incarnation is the model for creation: there is a creation only because of the Incarnation. In this schema, the universe is for Christ and not Christ for the universe. Scotus finds it inconceivable that the ‘greatest good in the universe’ i.e. the Incarnation, can be determined by some lesser good i.e. Man’s redemption. This is because such a sin-centered view of the Incarnation suggests that the primary role of Christ is as an assuager of the universe’s guilt. In the Absolute Primacy, Christ is the beginning, middle and end of creation. He stands at the center of the universe as the reason for its existence.

For more on this topic follow the link below.

http://franciscans.beimler.org/Incarnation%20Spirituality.html

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The Little Flower

I came to Mass today feeling a bit under the weather but glad to get out if town for awhile. It has been two weeks since my last visit to the Mountain. I am really glad I came. At brunch I met several people who touched my life and gave me direction. I’m sitting now in La Posada reflecting and listening to the silence that surrounds me. It is here that I come often to listen and along the trail is the statue of St. Theresa. I have stopped often to pray for her intercession.

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The lilies of the field

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Driving toward Mt. Irenaeus this morning I stopped along Hydetown Road and these buttercups invited a photograph and a moment to recall Matthew’s Gospel. Not even Solomon was arrayed as one of these.

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?’ or “What shall we drink?’ or “What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. — Matthew 6: 28-34

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To garden is to walk with God

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“To cultivate a garden is to walk with God”

This quote hangs at the entrance of the friars garden at Mt. Irenaeus. My wife is one of the angelic gardeners in my life. Today she begins the transformation of our front yard to her own prayerful garden.

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I will give you rest

A week ago I was complaining a bit about being worn out and I have been given a sacred cold which has provided me with some much needed recuperation. Runny nose and eyes are not conditions I covet but I’m happy to be horizontal for a couple of days. I also received word from St. Bonaventure University that my certification credentials have been filed with New York State. I had an opportunity to attend a gathering of chief school officers and teachers like me about the New York State Student Data portal that has been assembled. I found the talk a bit tiresome but enjoyed the opportunity to meet and greet some friends and enjoy a pleasant dinner. I’ve been spending much of the last two days on my back or on the couch trying to recover from the cold and it has given me time to rest and enjoy the quiet of my hermitage here on the edge of the 100 acre wood pictured in an earlier post.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28

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Tired

Lately I have been so tired. I can’t seem to get excited about much either. I’ve been trying too hard. I think that I’m experiencing a let down following the successful completion of  the last semester. I have so much to be grateful for and I have felt little or no gratitude. Tonight I reflected on these feelings and decided that I needed to be more grateful and to accept the things I cannot change. The essence of my happiness lies in acceptance. Too often I reflect not on what I should be grateful for but instead dwell on what I ought to be doing next. Sometimes this restlessness is good and at other times it can be debilitating. Lately it has been the latter experience.

This past weekend was the beginning of a much needed rest. Tomorrow, my classrom is being visited by some pre-service teachers and I have no idea what to share with them. I hope that you will pray that I can show them something or that a visit to our classroom and the children will at least benefit the students in some small way. I am privileged to work with so many wonderful young people who buoy me by their presence in my life. Many of them have no idea how important they are to me.  Without them my life really lacks purpose and yet lately it has been a struggle to maintain the edge. I have felt that I have been really just treading water and it’s a sensation I am uncomfortable with. Whatever I do I like to do with all my heart and lately my heart has not been in all that I have done. I hope that your prayers and the Holy Spirit will animate me and us enough to provide something for these Houghton students who are visiting us tomorrow and on Wednesday. Peace be with you!

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Gates Creek

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Gates Creek flows next to Riverside Drive in Franklinville, New York. Tonight I was out walking with my wife and we wandered over to the creek to see how it looked after all the recent rains. It was deeper than usual but not muddy as I expected. Diane used to bring the children here to cool off on hot summer days. Those days are long gone and now there are only great memories.

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The Storm

It’s storming now and kind of frightening with all the news from the mid-west of tornadoes. I am scared too but welcome the peaceful sound of the rain, wind and lightning too as it is all produced by the creator of heaven and earth.

Altissimu, onnipotente bon Signore. – Most high, all powerful, all good Lord! — Francis of Assisi.

It’s from the Canticle of the Sun. It is scary but welcome too. I am tired and not just bone weary but tired of chicanery everywhere.  Today one I was told at my work that I  was not to make peace. The person doesn’t know that I work for the King of Kings and my job is to make peace. I welcome the peace of Christ even in the midst of this storm. I am still and know that you are God. I am still and know. I am still. I am here and I am waiting for you. Altissimu, omnipotente bon Signore! Pace.

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Without words

I’ve been really bushed since school ended.  I didn’t realize how much I needed a rest. I’m just going through the motions.  I am reminded by one of my favorite quotes.

“It is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” — John Bunyan

My heart is full and sometimes heavy with the word of storms in the west and suffering all around us. I see children everyday who are slipping through the holes in the safety net. I am happy to have a heart and anxious to say something but not now, not yet.