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Tomorrow I will travel to Mt. Saviour Monastery in Pine City, New York. I spent a couple of days there in February. I found it inviting and in that spirit I feel invited again to spend a couple of days there. Today I found some connections between the founder of Mt. Saviour, Fr. Damasus Winzen and the Orthodox Church. Fr. Damasus is remembered in a special way on the Orthodox June Sanctoral calendar. In reading more about the founder of Mt. Saviour I was drawn to the writings of Brother David Steindl-Rast, who once was a member of the Mt. Saviour Community. Brother David has devoted much of his life to the practice of gratefulness and he equates gratefulness to “Trinitarian mysticism in action.” In my reading today I came across some posts from Brother David and others at Monastic Reflections on Zazen. I’ve done some reading on Zazen and recently as part of my Lenten devotion intentionally spent time each day sitting in centering prayer.

It was no mistake that I should find this website just prior to my pilgrimage to Mt. Saviour. It is interesting that one of the core concepts of the Alcoholics Anonymous program is grateful living. Gratitude is a powerful spiritual force. Brother David has great website at Gratefulness.org.

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gratefulness, zazen, centering prayer, damasus winzen

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. That’s the first of the many readings tonight at the vigil service. I thought of the similarity between this reading and the John 1;1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Tonight’s readings begin with the story of creation and end with the Gospel passage from St. Mark, “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter,‘He is going before you to Galilee;there you will see him, as he told you.”.

Jesus is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is creation. In him all things were made. “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race.” The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Tonight at Mt. Irenaeus, Brother Joe will light the bonfire as we gather around it before processing into Holy Peace Chapel. Fr. Dan Riley will light the paschal candle and hold it into the night sky and proclaim, “Light of Christ.” In the darkness and beauty of the night the acclamation, “light of Christ,” will have more meaning for those of us assembled on this holy ground. Tonight we are here to proclaim the light of Christ. We are here to follow Jesus into Galilee wherever Galilee is for each of us and for all of us.

At times the world has seemed dark and without hope. Tonight there is light and hope. Tonight we will pray, “Lord send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth.” Tonight we will hear Isaiah proclaim, “All you who are thirsty,come to the water! You who have no money,come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost,drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?”

Tonight we will proclaim that the King of Kings is risen. Alleleuia. Peace.

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Easter, vigil, Christ, alleluia

“For this I was born and for this I came into the world,to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” Taken from St. John’s Gospel in today’s liturgy this passage gripped me. “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pontius Pilate’s question, “What is truth”, is the question of all mankind. Pilate speaks for us. Are we listening to the voice of Jesus or are we listening to some other voice? What is the voice of Jesus? Where do we hear it? What does it mean? I am reminded of an earlier post and the powerful video presentation by Ava Lowery, Peace takes Courage. The voice of Jesus is the voice of peace. It is the voice of love and compassion. It is the voice of transformation. “He who loves his life will lose it and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”

“All who love the Lord with their whole heart, with their whole soul and mind, with all their strength, and love their neighbors as themselves and hate their bodies with their vices and sins, and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and produce worthy fruits of penance.

Oh, how happy and blessed are these men and women when they do these things and persevere in doing them, because the spirit of the Lord will rest upon them and he will make his home and dwelling among them, and they are the sons of the heavenly Father, whose works they do, and they are the spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ.”–Exhortation of St. Francis to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. Peace.

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The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year… It is the Passover of the Lord. Taken from the first reading tonight, these phrases signal for me the holiest time of the year. The Triduum is filled with mystical presence and holiness for me. Just to hear the words of the first reading tonight, “It is the Passover of the Lord” will send shivers up and down.

This evening we’ll be celebrating a “dish to pass” supper at Mt. Irenaeus followed by the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. One of the friars will carry a pitcher and a large wash basin, another will carry a towel as the celebrant washes the feet of perhaps a dozen of those present. Tonight these Franciscans will literally live the Gospel. In the process hearts and minds will be transformed. The altar will be stripped, fragrant incense will fill the chapel as we wait in our gardens of Gethsemani to adore the Blessed Sacrament. It is a holy night. It is the passover of the Lord.

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”

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My heart swells with pride and tears rim my eyes as I watch Cardinal McCarrick address a crowd of 200,000 in Washington, D.C. I am not bilingual and I cannot understand what he is saying, but the ear of my heart tells me that he is speaking with passion and he is being well received by this crowd. It is great to see clergy all across this nation mobilize on behalf of our immigrant brothers and sisters. “Do not wrong or oppress the resident alien, the orphan, or the widow,” says the prophet Jeremiah.

This is day that is surprising the pundits. It is truly wonderful what is happening on the mall in Washington. This is truly a holy week. This is the finest example of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in our midst. You too can be a part of immigrant justice by visiting the April 10 website.

Peace.

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“Judas, you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” I can betray the Son of Man with what I kiss. What am I kissing today that betrays the Son of Man? As I listened to yesterday’s Gospel it became apparent that not just Judas was complicit in his death. We all were. Yesterday, we all got to play a part in the reading of the Gospel. As I repeated the words “crucify Him” they became easy in such a large group. It’s always easy to go along with the crowd. Jesus was the scape goat. The Lamb of God was led to slaughter and we were all complicit in his death. Who are the other scape goats in my life today? Is it the immigrant, the gay, the Iraqi or Iranian, the one not like me. It’s always acceptable to crucify the one not like me. Crucify him easily translates to crucify them. If only we can get rid of the one not like us, then there will be peace. Who is the acceptable scape goat in your life? Peace.

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I began my day driving to Mt. Irenaeus. It was a beautiful day, blue and cloudless sky, which is quite unusual in western New York state, much of the time. When I got to the Franciscan Retreat Center I climbed the hill to the chapel. I noticed as I got closer that the assembled congregation was not in the chapel but on the perimeter of the labyrinth. There were nearly 60 people assembled this morning. Most of them were college students from St. Bonaventure University and State University at Geneseo. There was even a young lady from nearby Houghton College, a Wesleyan Christian liberal arts college. The “ad hoc” choir had us singing “Hosanna” as we processed from the labyrinth into the chapel.

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week. Holy Week has been very special to me over the years. This is a special mystical time that is filled with imagery and connectedness to the passion, death and resurrection. Some of my favorite liturgies of the liturgical year occur during Holy Week. The Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. I am moved just to think of it.

After brunch today I spent sometime with Fr. Lou discussing the direction of my life. There is something moving in my life. I can’t put my finger on it but Fr. Lou has agreed to sit with me once a month and be my spiritual director. I have no idea where I am going, but I do know that something is stirring and just the activity of that stirring is very beautiful. Today’s reading from Isaiah has meaning for me.

“The Lord GOD is my help,therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”

After spending the morning at the Mountain for the Eucharist and brunch I returned home and helped our local parish priest set up a new fax machine and then drove another hour away to the Abbey of the Genesee arriving in time to spend some quiet moments in their chapel and join them for compline. Something keeps drawing me to all these places. It’s beautiful, but I really don’t know what it is. I am often reminded of Thomas Merton’s prayer, “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.” Peace.

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Paula has a nice post this morning that is taken from today’s gospel. I think we all have alabaster jars that we can give to the Lord. We just don’t recognize the alabaster in our lives.

More Light: Just before the Passions

Last night I read this same passage of scripture and again this morning and it strikes me how much women are and were a part of Jesus’ ministry. In fact other than St. John only women were with Jesus as he died on the cross. In my own life it was my mother who saw to it that I had a Catholic education. It was also the tireless Allegany Franciscan sisters who devoted their lives to teaching thousands of young children in parochial schools in our area over many years. Some day perhaps the church will wake up to this and allow women a more central role in the liturgy. Peace.

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gospel, passion of jesus, alabaster, catholic women, allegany franciscan

I just read a very disturbing piece that was written by Seymour Hersh in which he describes in detail plans that are being drawn up at this moment for a nuclear attack on Iran. This pre-emptive strike is being planned by the Bush Administration to negate the growing threat of an Iranian nuclear presence. Naturally as a Franciscan I abhor the thought of the use of any weapon let alone a nuclear weapon. There is not much that I can do as a private citizen of this world. It is small wonder that so many in the middle east have a very low regard for Christians as Mr. Bush describes himself to be one. I am reminded of a quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, “I do not reject your Christ, I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are unlike your Christ.” Gandhi also said that if we could get 1 percent of the world to meditate that we could stop all wars. I’ve been intrigued by that assertion for years. Is it possible that we have the solution to this war making if only we could find enough of our fellow humans to attempt such an undertaking.

I am asking as we begin this Holy Week observation tomorrow that we would consider meditating and encouraging others to do the same to avert the certain chaos that would result from yet another military intervention. I don’t care who or what you worship, please let us resolve to take a stand for peace. Peace and all good.

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peace, nuclear war, iran, gandhi, bush administration, christ, holy week

“The only way to get rid of misconceptions about contemplation is to experience it. One who does not actually know, in his own life, the nature of this breakthrough and this awakening to a new level of reality cannot help being misled by most of the things that are said about it. For contemplation cannot be taught. It cannot even be clearly explained. It can only be hinted at, suggested, pointed to, symbolized. The more objectively and scientifically one tries to analyze it, the more he empties it of its real content, for this experience is beyond the reach of verbalization and of rationalization.”–From New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton

I came across this quote at a nice website I discovered thanks to a blog that now links here. Here is the link to more Thomas Merton quotes and more. I’ve discovered that blogging is very enlightening and fulfilling. I must say that in the four months since I started doing this I’ve gained a great deal of insight and been blessed by reading the posts of other bloggers. I’m now reading more and sharing in a richness that I had not enjoyed up until now. Blogging has been given a bad name in the American press. To be sure there are political blogs on the right and left that get a little carried away with their judgments but what is not reported in the press is the very rich sharing among the spiritual bloggers.
This is a revolution in publishing not seen since the advent of moveable type.

I owe the link to Mark at “You Duped me Lord”., Mark had added this blog as a link to his work. I’m flattered that so many of you have enjoyed what I’ve posted. At the same time I’m encouraged in my own life knowing that there are others who write blogs or post comments on them that are thinking like I am. There are no doubt some among us who are the Thomas Mertons of this day. I want to thank the young man who first introduced me to blogging over a year ago. He’s got a great link on his site that I think deserves to be shared, Send a Friend to School. Thank you, Kevin. Peace and all good.

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thomas merton, send a friend to school, bloggers