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“Nothing is more like God than silence.” –Meister Eckhart. I’ve thought of this quote many times since reading it earlier this week in Albert Nolan’s “Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom.” I came from a time and a home where much emphasis was placed on wrote prayers, the Rosary, the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer, Act of Contrition and even the Mass itself. Yet, from early on there was this attraction to the contemplative. As a young boy I was fascinated with Benediction and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The smell of incense and the mystical presence of Christ. I love the liturgies, but most of all I love the silence and quiet of the real presence. When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly–Matthew 6:6

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mystical, spiritual, eucharist

In reading Nolan’s work there is a lot of discussion of the importance of meditation and contemplation in the Spirituality of Jesus. The older I get the more important contemplation becomes to me. Churches and communities that emphasize busy-ness have no appeal to me. Meister Eckhart once said, “Nothing is more like God than silence.” Yesterday and today as I sat in the chapel and walked the land of Genesee Abbey the more that simple phrase resonated with me. Each day of my life I require more silence. I am drawn to it like an insect to a flame. I am consumed with the desire for solitude. Karl Rahner, great theologian of the twentieth century predicted, “the Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.”
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albert nolan, meister eckhart, karl rahner, mystic

Yesterday I mentioned that I purchased a new book while at Genesee Abbey. That book, “Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom” is an incredible piece of thought and writing and yet it’s really easy to read and a book that I have not been able to put down. I’m almost done with it and it propelled me to visit the Abbey again today. I had the day off due to the Columbus Day holiday. I have not read Albert Nolan’s earlier work, “Jesus before Christianity” and so this is the first time I’ve read anything he wrote. The book is filled with many memorable quotes and here is one of my favorites. “In turning the assumptions of his time upside down, Jesus rejected any legalistic and moralizing form of religion. To this day there are people who see religion as nothing more than a system of moral laws and principles sanctioned by God. God makes the laws, judges us in terms of them, and in the next life distributes appropriate rewards and punishments. The same culture of blame can be found among those who are not religious at all. Wherever there is a problem, people tend to look around for someone to blame. They look for a scapegoat.”

Nolan mentions later in the book that the one saint who came closest to this ideal is of course St. Francis of Assisi. This book is fabulous and it’s a discussion of Jesus’ spirituality without all the discourse of doctrine, dogma and theology that often fills other books. I think you can enjoy this book regardless of your age and regardless of your denomination. I think even people from other traditions would enjoy this book. There is no proselytizing. It is just radically Jesus.
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jesus, albert nolan, spirituality

Yesterday my day began with a thirty mile drive to Mt. Irenaeus for Mass. The weather has been bright and blue the last few days and yesterday’s ride was beautiful. Fr. Lou McCormick was the celebrant and the chapel was full of people. Brother Joe has returned from hiking the Appalachian trail and it was good to see him again after his three week vacation. After Mass and brunch I stopped at the home of a Secular Franciscan to repair their damaged computer. The modem had gotten “fried” in a recent lightning strike. Following the repair we sat down for some great pumpkin bread and a cup of coffee and we began to discuss other activities for our fraternity in the coming year. Then I was on the road again to Dansville Airport and the Finger Lakes Soaring Club. I got to the airport in late afternoon and there was not as much lift as I would have thought. I watched lots of planes take off and land at the airport and even a few gliders departing and landing. Around 5 pm I decided to drive twenty miles north to the Abbey of the Genesee and spend some time there again. This was the fourth Sunday evening in the last six that I’ve spent at the Abbey. I got some sunflower bread in their store and purchased a new book, “Jesus Today:A Spirituality of Radical Freedom” by Albert Nolan. I spent some time reflecting and praying in their chapel and then stayed for Compline. There must be a message here in all this. I am drawn more and more to the Abbey. Once I got home I spent some time reading my new book. It’s a really great book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is searching for meaning in today’s topsy turvy world. Peace.

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spirtuality, contemplation, mt. irenaeus, genesee abbey

“The true nature of all things is continuously manifesting. When a dog barks or pees on the ground, that dog’s true nature is in realization. The dog is manifesting dog nature, just as a stick lying on the ground manifests its stick nature. All things are always manifesting their true nature. We never look at a tree and say, “That tree is imperfect, that tree is not manifesting its true nature.” We only look at ourselves and other human beings and say, “We are not manifesting our true nature.”

Why do we say that? Because when it comes to humans, we have an idea of what it is to be saintlike, to be a perfected human being. We don’t realize that each human being is always manifesting his true nature, no matter what that person is doing. It is that simple. As a human being, you cannot do anything but manifest your true nature.”–Dennis Genpo Merzel, The Eye Never Sleeps.

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spirituality, zen

Today I received a wonderful reflection from Every Church a Peace Church. I get a regular email from them and have for a couple of years. I’m glad I took the time to read this one today because it’s great. Follow this link to that reflection.

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peace, forgiveness, amish

Today at work I was visiting with a fellow teacher and we began to discuss his concerns about a son who is exploring his own spiritual roots and direction. Our discussion led me to share some of my own journey and to suggest that the young person was or at least could be a contemplative. I’m not sure if my friend completely agreed, but we had a delightful conversation which really was a great way to end the work day and begin the weekend. Speaking about my own journey I shared that I really love to visit monasteries and that silence and stillness speak more to me about the presence of God than other forms of liturgy and ritual. When I go to Mass I prefer smaller, more intimate settings. Big churches and thirty minute liturgies leave me cold. I don’t want to sit through a boring sermon, but I enjoy the intimacy and discourse of shared homilies. More intimate settings for the Eucharist make it seem more like being in the upper room with Jesus himself. Quiet reflections after communion are also some of my favorite moments.

Every month at our Secular Franciscan meeting we begin with 30 minutes of Eucharistic adoration. This too is a special time for me. I love sitting in a small chapel with incense and just the quiet presence of the Body of Christ. When I visit Genesee Abbey or Mt. Saviour I love to sit in their chapels quietly for minutes and sometimes an hour or more.

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spiritual, contemplative, mystic

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I am reading, “Going Home – Jesus and Buddha as Brothers” by Thich Nhat Hanh. I love to read him. He is so peaceful I can hear his gentle voice in my head and it is a bell of mindfulness all it’s own. I heard someone once describe him as someone who wrote with the “voice of the Buddha.” One of the chapters I read tonight dealt with spiritual ancestors. I began to think of all those people who I would say are my spiritual ancestors. Jesus is certainly one, but then too is St. Francis of Assisi, St. Patrick, St. Jude, St. Paul, St. Matthew, Thomas Merton,Mahatma Gandhi and the Buddha too. In the past ten years or so I have come to think of myself as an accidental Buddhist. Much of what really drives me is found in what Thich Nhat Hanh, D.T. Suzuki, the Dalai Lama and others have written of their own Buddhist journeys and insights. One of my favorite books and one I recommend to young athletes is “Sacred Hoops:Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior” by Phil Jackson. I don’t know if Phil could be an ancestor, but some of what he has written has shaped my path. Who are your spiritual ancestors?

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spiritual, ancestor, jesus, buddha, thich nhat hanh, thomas merton, contemplative

Tomorrow is the Feast of Transitus marking the passage of St. Francis of Assisi from life to death. For Francis death is/was a part of life. Francis saw all life as inter-related. He saw himself as brother and sister to all created by the Most High. Francis used many superlatives to describe the almighty.I’ve been reading an interesting book today. It is “Going Home – Jesus and Buddha as Brothers” by Thich Nhat Hanh. I’ve seen some similarities with St. Francis. The Buddha saw “living beings as mothers and fathers for each other.” If I look deeply at all that surrounds me I must se the relationship of everything to me and me to everything else that surrounds me. If I think I am an autonomous creature then I am living an untruth. I breathe air and I expel carbon dioxide. I have a relationship with the air as brother and sister. I am brother and sister to all creation and they are the same to me.

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creation, buddha, thich nhat hanh, st.francis

I don’t know if you’ve ever read any of the work of Fr. John Dear, SJ, but he’s a great writer has a weekly column in the National Catholic Reporter. Here is his work from September 19th. I think you’ll be challenged. Follow this link…

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jesus, peace, john dear, nonviolence