Category: Spiritual

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Touch my body

Recently I’ve come to have a greater appreciation for the feminine spirit in my life. I recently wrote about the Ruach and how the Hebrews long ago realized that the spirit of God was feminine or at least that’s how they depicted it. One of the lines in the Tao te Ching says, “the soft overcomes the hard.” Lao-Tzu knew way back then that the most powerful forces in the world were feminine.

A week ago my wife got a present from our son for Mothers Day and it was Mariah Carey’s latest Album. I was somewhat surprised. I’ve been a Mariah fan since I first heard her in the early 1990’s. My wife told me that she had heard Mariah perform on Oprah Winfrey’s show and had really liked one of the songs. My daughter was playing the album last week in our home and we both like “Touch my Body.” In fact every since I heard the song I can’t get the melody out of my head. The video on Youtube is very captivating and highlights much of Carey’s mystique as a performer, but it also touches on the larger theme of the powerful feminine spirit which animates so much of my life and our lives in general. Returning from my workout this morning I mentioned to my wife about the song and about how this had gotten me to thinking again of how much we need the feminine and sacred feminine in our lives. It is women after all who give us life, who nurture us and protect us when necessary.

Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Gandhi, the Dalai-Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King were all leaders who understood this very well. Gandhi brought down the British by receiving their anger and turning it against them. Jesus said, “resist not evil,” “love your enemies,” “do good to those who persecute you.” It all flies in the face of the masculine war and endless war. I mentioned to Diane this morning that I think gay men are more in touch with the feminine and that is what is really unsettling to those men who haven’t accepted their own femininity. I hope you enjoy the video and song I can’t get it out of my head. You can view it here on Youtube.

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Solar Nation

In case you’ve been asleep for the past seven years, we are in an energy crisis. The leadership of our country has failed to recognize this fact and has failed to call on us the citizens to implement strategies that will protect not only our environment, but our very way of life. Renewable energy is perhaps the one strategy which could lift our dependence on foreign oil and our over reliance on fossil fuels in general. Renewable energy is good for the environment too because it lessens greenhouse gas emissions which are contributing global warming. One of the methods governments can promote renewable energy is through the use of targeted tax cuts. Up until now all the bills that have passed through our national legislature have been defeated by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers which demonstrates the hold that the oil and gas industry has on our country. It’s easy to blame Messrs. Bush and Cheney, but while they are not advocates of this energy, they are not completely responsible for the non-action.

in brief, they’ve all been about funding: the bills either targeted oil & gas industry revenues to pay for the tax credits, or they had no source of funding at all. So they all ran into roadblocks manned, respectively, by Senate Republicans or House Democrats. To this day, no-one is willing to budge an inch from their position, even with legislation as important as this.

This week we heard something different from Capitol Hill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are urging the House Ways & Means Committee to support a small ($6-8 billion) renewable energy tax extenders package that would include Solar and that would be funded, not from the oil & gas industry but from the reporting of credit-card transactions to the IRS.–Solarnation

If you would like to take true patriotic action in the run up to this year’s Memorial Day call on your elected representatives to consider joining Solar Nation and do your part to foster renewable energy.

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Pentecost

Today was the Feast of Pentecost. At Mass today Fr. Lou’s homily was about the Holy Spirit and about how much of theology is spent on Jesus and God the Father, but almost nothing on the Holy Spirit. He drew our attention to a print near the rear of the chapel today that is a depiction of the Ruach. The depiction is of a feminine spirit breathing life into the earth from the cosmos. Today was also Mothers Day and as I looked at this depiction I thought of the parallels between the Ruach and mothers. We come to life in our mothers and it is through the love, action and attention of our mothers that our early lives are animated.  We cannot see the Ruach but it is the breath of God that gives us life and gives our lives direction and purpose.  Mystics whether men or women are always in touch with the sacred feminine which is very much within the holy spirit. Those who deny this feminine are really out of touch with the Holy Spirit.

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Home again

I’m home again after two days at Stella Maris Retreat in Skaneateles, New York. It was the annual meeting of the Kateri Tekakwitha Region Secular Franciscan Order. I’m humbled to be a member, much less a minister of our local St. Irenaeus Fraternity. The Secular Franciscan Order, originally known as the Brothers and Sisters of Penance follow a rule of life much like that followed by Franciscan friars and nuns everywhere in the world except they follow it as very ordinary folks. Some are retired, some are not. Some are married, others are not. Some of our members are social workers, nurses, while others are teachers and some are even computer geeks.  Our members come from all walks of life and all around the world. We’ve got one thing in common and that is a desire to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the same way that our seraphic father St. Francis of Assisi did.

I’m humbled to be in the presence of such holy people. I feel like I am the least of the brothers.

Secular Franciscans, together with all people of good will, are called to build a more fraternal and evangelical world so that the kingdom of God may be brought about more effectively. Mindful that anyone “who follows Christ, the perfect man, becomes more of a man himself,” let them exercise their responsibilities competently in the Christian spirit of service.

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What is a contemplative?

Last Saturday my son asked my wife and I if we could define mysticism. I did my best but it’s like trying to define what strawberries taste like to someone who’s never tasted one.  This morning I decided to give one of my extra books to our school library but before I did, I looked inside one last time to see any notes I may have left. I found a note on page 81 of “The Illuminated Life: Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light,” by Joan Chittister, OSB.

To be a contemplative we must become converted to the consciousness that makes us one with the universe, in tune with the cosmic voice of God. We must become aware of the sacred in every single element of life. We must bring beauty to birth in a poor and plastic world. We must restore the human community. We must grow in concert with God who is within.  We must be healers in a harsh society. We must become all those things that are the ground of contemplation, the fruits of contemplation, the end of contemplation.

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Wholeness

Religion is about ritual, about morals, about systems of thought, all of them good, but all of them incomplete. Spirituality is about coming to consciousness of the sacred. It is in that consciousness that perspective comes, that peace comes. It is in that consciousness that a person comes to wholeness. –p.16, Illuminated Life–Joan Chittister, OSB

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Rigid people

This week I encountered once again a chap at work who is very narrow minded and rigid. He’s inflexible and I must have some of that nature in me. I know I do and that’s what burns me about him. This morning after rising I looked outside my window and there on the ground was a little bird, laying on his back, feet pointing toward heaven. He was stiff as a board. I wondered if he had flown into our window and died. I’ll bury him later, but then I mourned briefly his passing. I’m connected to all that is. There is nothing that is that is not connected to me. When I become rigid I forget that. I love the Tao te Ching and the wisdom of Lao Tzu. He was a holy man, a saint who lived before Christ.

When alive, the body is supple, yielding.
In death, the body becomes hard, unyielding.

Living plants are flexible,
In death, they become dry and brittle.

Therefore, stubborn people are disciples of death, but
Flexible people are disciples of life.

In the same way,
Inflexible soldiers cannot win (a victory).
And the hardest trees are readiest for an axe to chop them down
Tough guys sink to the bottom, while
Flexible people rise to the top.

Christ was flexible and when Christians become inflexible they do not imitate Christ

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Stand Strong

Brother Joe sent me some mail today. I invite you to join me in standing strong against hate. I hope you’ll consider taking a stand with us. Hate and hate crimes are more prevalent recently as we face a new wave of xenophobic activity in our country.

Every hour
someone commits a hate crime.
Every day
at least eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three Jews and one Latino become hate crime victims.

Every week
a cross is burned.

Hate in America is a dreadful, daily constant. The dragging death of a black man in Jasper, Texas; the crucifixion of a gay man in Laramie, Wyo.; and post-9.11 hate crimes against hundreds of Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and Sikhs are not “isolated incidents.” They are eruptions of a nation’s intolerance.
Bias is a human condition, and American history is rife with prejudice against groups and individuals because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other differences. The 20th century saw major progress in outlawing discrimination, and most Americans today support integrated schools and neighborhoods. But stereotypes and unequal treatment persist, an atmosphere often exploited by hate groups.–Southern Poverty Law Center

Stand Strong Against Hate.

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Alumni tournament

Both our children are home this weekend. It’s the Alumni Basketball Tournament at Franklinville Central School. This tradition which began perhaps twenty years ago draws alumni from all across the country back to our small town nestled in the foothills of the Allegany Mountains. Last night we went to watch the opening round as teams from this decade competed against teams made up of men who range in age from twenty-one to nearly sixty. Our son Devin’s team took the floor last night and it was good to see these young men reunited. Although I always love to watch Devin play, I was especially glad to see one of his teammates, Dustin Owen, recently returned from the U.S. Army and Iraq.   Dustin finally got out after being stop-lossed. He joined in 2002 for what was supposed to be a four year hitch and finally got out just a couple of months ago. The young men triumphed last night. Today will bring more competition and camaraderie.

Franklinville is usually a sleepy little town, but on this weekend once a year it comes to life a bit as former school boy players and their families converge to reunite on the hardwood, the homes and restaurants of our village.

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Gerry Straub

Gerry Straub stopped by today and left a comment. I’m flattered. Gerry’s got a blog, that I’ve added to my blogroll. You might enjoy looking at. I own one of Gerry’s films, “No Room at the Inn.” I purchased it at St. Francis Inn where I spent some time last summer. I hope to return again this year. You might enjoy visiting Gerry’s other site, The San Damiano Foundation, where his work is displayed.