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It doesn’t hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started..

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized. “Well,” said the Director, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.” “Oh, I understand,” said the visitor. “A normal person would use the bucket because it’s bigger than the spoon or the teacup.”

“No.” said the Director, “A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?”

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humor, mental health

I sit here in my quiet sacred space surrounded by icons that remind me of that which I treasure. We are on the eve of mid-term elections in the United States which once again are used to divide us further. Politicians and pundits clamor and there just isn’t much peace to be found. Thousands of miles away in the deserts of Mesopotamia young Americans are dying and killing. War profiteers are delighted. The devil if there is one would seem to be incarnate and yet we have the power to stop it all if we choose.

The following prayer comes from “Thomas Merton: Dialogues with Silence.”

Almighty and merciful God, Father of all, Creator and Ruler of the Universe, Lord of History Whose designs are inscrutable, Whose glory is without blemish, Whose compassion for our errors is inexhaustible,

in your will is our peace.

Mercifully hear this prayer which rises to You from the tumult and desperation of a world in which You are forgotten, in which Your name is not invoked, Your laws are derided, Your presence is ignored.

Because we do not know You, we have no peace.

Help us to be the masters of the weapons that threaten to master us. Help us to use our science for peace and plenty, not for war and destruction. Show us how to use nuclear power to bless our children’s children and not to blight them.

Resolve our inner contradictions that now grow beyond belief and beyond bearing. They are at once a torment and a blessing: for if you had not left us the light of conscience, we would not have to endure them. Teach us to be long-suffering in anguish and insecurity. Teach us to wait and trust. Grant light, grant strength and patience to all who work for peace.–(from a prayer read in the United States House of Representatives, Wednesday of Holy Week, April 12, 1962)

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“To deliver oneself up, to hand oneself over, entrust oneself completely to the silence of a wide landscape of woods and hills, or sea, or desert; to sit still while the sun comes up over the land and fills its silences with light. To pray and work in the morning and to labor in meditation in the evening when night falls upon that land and when the silence fills itself with darkness and with stars. This is a true and special vocation. There are few who are willing to belong completely to such silence, to let it soak into their bones, to breathe nothing but silence, to feed on silence, and to turn the very substance of their life into a living and vigilant silence.” –Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude.

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thomas merton, prayer, work, solitude

I’ve been feeling pretty beat lately. I have a lot of work to accomplish everyday as the administrator of the computer network at our school district. Managing the needs of nearly five hundred computers and the users is daunting at times. I’m blessed with one full time assistant and one part time assistant. But, we still have been up to our necks lately. I’ve been feeling the strain of it all and it’s left me emotionally flat. I’ve been trying to put other people’s needs first, but still I’ve been maxxed out. I didn’t feel like making the trip to Mt. Irenaeus today for Mass and our Secular Franciscan Fraternity meeting. I just sat there at Mass. I went through the motions, but my heart wasn’t there. During Fr. Lou’s homily he mentioned how people don’t really get vacations anymore because even when they’re away from work they are still carrying cell phones, chatting and blogging on computers. That hit home and it melted the ice enough that I began to come alive during the rest of the Eucharist. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to be there and how good it was to be home with our Secular Fraternity.

Following Mass and a tasty brunch at the house we returned to the chapel for Eucharistic adoration. Eucharistic adoration is one of my favorite liturgical activities. I love to sit in the chapel in the divine presence and to smell the incense and bathe in that moment. I have a Quaker side of me that just loves the quiet presence of God. Following our meeting I was back on the road to what I thought was home. There was a message on my voice mail from an old friend, Brother Vianney. His voice on the other end was just like talking to an angel. We agreed to meet for a short lunch at a local Subway restaraunt. It was great to see him again. Vianney Justin, OFM is a friar with a huge heart and being with him is validation that I’m not crazy or unusual. We share a lot of common interests. We both like George Carlin and corny jokes. We share an attraction to Trappist Monasteries.

We both went our separate ways and by the end of the day I was back at Abbey of the Geneseee. Vianney asked me to pick up some brochures of the Monastery that he could share with people at his parish. I stopped by the monks’ bakeshop and purchased a couple of chocolate chip and blueberry cakes made by the monks. Before I left I went and sat for some time in the lovely quiety chapel in the presence again and gazing on the picture of Our Lady of the Genesee. Peace.

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benediction, franciscan, trappist, peace, quiet

a minor friar: Links

Very provocative images and thoughts here. Look at all the images of Jesus and ask yourself which one or ones you most identify with and why.

There is a story in the book “Spirituality of Imperfection” that is about a scruffy old man from the fringes of society that appears in the congregation of a wealthy suburban church. He begins to attend this church and comes every week like clockwork. His presence makes the other parishioners uncomfortable because he is definitely not like them. Finally after services one Sunday the cleric in charge of this congregation approaches the old man and asks him why he keeps coming to this particular church. The minister is uncomfortable too with the presence of this fellow whose appearance is somewhat unkempt and unclean. The old man tells the minister that he likes this congregation and would like to become a member of it. This really startles and frightens the minister and he begins to discourage the old man, but the old fellow insists that he’d like to stay. Finally the minister suggests that the old man pray about this and return the following week when they can discuss his possible membership in the congregation.

A week elapses and the old man once again comes to church and following the service the pastor anxious to be rid of the old fellow asks if he has prayed. The old man assures the cleric that he has prayed and that God has given him an answer. The minister asks if the old gentleman would share with him the answer he received. The old guy says, “God told me that he had been trying to get into this church for over ten years and he’s had no luck either.”

Last nights’ quote from Lenny Bruce reminded me of this story and that’s what’s wrong with many of the churches that exist today. Welcoming the stranger, the resident alien, the foreigner, the widower, the person outside our comfort zone is not easy and many churches today are agents of the status quo. Instead of being prophetic many of these are cold and pathetic. A fellow Secular Franciscan and I had a long talk along these lines last month on our ride home from the Kateri Shrine. He and his wife had attended a local Catholic Church and the service was over in 23 minutes. There was no warmth, no community and no desire on their part to return to this parish. I’ve been to that parish and their probably canononically correct in every respect. They are obedient to Rome and the local diocese and they are colder than an ice cube. Peace.

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christian, community

“Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God”– Lenny Bruce

I once saw a movie about Lenny Bruce’s life. I think it was done in the 1970’s. The movie starred Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine. I know that Lenny Bruce is purported to have been an influence on one of my favorite comedians, George Carlin. I really like the quote above and it’s supposed to be one of Lenny’s. I often wonder if Jesus came to found another church or if there is something larger that has largely gone unnoticed. If there is something larger and I believe there is, what is it? What is there about churches that turn people off?

I think there is something very Franciscan in all of this. Jesus is reported to have said to Francis at San Damiano, “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” If something like that happened to you, what would you do? Where would your focus be? Peace.

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lenny bruce, jesus, st. francis

The Dalai Lama is in the United States. He was in Denver over the weekend and at the PeaceJam Festival he told young people that war is outdated. He said, “destruction of your neighbor is actually destruction of yourself.” That sounds a bit like Jesus, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I got to thinking about how grateful I am for President Bush and his endless war, because it presents such a wonderful contrast with a truly holy man like the Dalai Lama. Without President Bush the beauty of the Dalai Lama is dimmed or not fully appreciated. I long for the day when we have leaders in this country who actually work for peace and not for war.

I was hoping to see the Dalai Lama when he was in Western New York, but alas I procrastinated too long. I believe that the holiness of his presence at the University at Buffalo will be palpable. He just exudes peace and holiness. There is no doubt that his visit will bring a renewed interest in Buddhism and Zen Buddhism in particular. Many Christian mystics including Thomas Merton appreciated the wisdom of the east. There is an oriental quality to what Jesus said that has been neatly excised by the dualism of the Greeks which has been handed down to present day Western Christianity. The prayer of Jesus, “that they all may be one.” speaks to oneness. Thich Nhat Hanh has written a lovely book that is worth your time, “Living Buddha, Living Christ” that speaks to the similarities in the message of Jesus and Buddha.

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dalai lama, thich nhat hanh, buddhism, christ, buddha

Following my first glider flight I’ve had a chance to reflect a bit and see that flight of my own experience. PlainFoolish has a great post about lying fallow. I think somethings have to lie fallow for a long time and some for a shorter time and others we keep going back to time and again and seeing them in different lights. In listening to Fr. Dan Riley’s homily this morning it occurred to me that I am surrounded by forces. These forces are the love of God. I might not always define those forces in that manner but whether I define them that way or not does not diminish their power. Relying on this force can be liberating if I choose it to be.

I once read a book entitled “Conquest of Fear” by Basil King. It’s a part of my small library and I refer to it from time to time. It was written and first published nearly 65 years ago. The author was about my age or a bit older and was beginning to experience a loss of sight. He felt a need to encounter this experience of fear that had dogged him since birth. I think fear is one thing that dogs most people although some might not define what is bugging them as fear. You can read “Conquest of Fear” online at the Gutenberg Project.

On page 9 of Chapter 2 Basil King writes, “But to an Infinite Mind bathing me round and round I must be as much the object of regard as any solar system. To such a Mind nothing is small, no one thing farther from its scope than another. God could have no difficulty in attending to me, seeing that from the nature of His mental activity, to put it in that way, He could not lose sight of me nor let me go. When an object is immersed in water it gives no extra trouble to the water to close round it. It can’t help doing it. The object may be as small as a grain of dust or as big as a warship; to the water it is all the same. Immersed in the Infinite Mind, closed round by it, it was giving God no extra trouble to think of me, of my work, my desires, the objects with which I was living, since by the nature of His Being He could do nothing else.

As I’ve pondered my ride in the sailplane yesterday I’ve thought again of these words in “Conquest of Fear”, “When an object is immersed in water it gives no extra trouble for the water to close round it. It can’t help doing it.” The air around our craft and indeed around me has no choice but to embrace me and so to I am surrounded by the love of God. It is all encompassing and pervasive. It can’t not be so. There can be no limit to its presence. I can live in ignorance of these facts but that does not make them untrue. Will I choose to live aware of this presence and to revel in it and to help others to revel in it also. Could this be akin to St. Bonaventure’s “fountain fullness” of God? I think so. Peace.

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basil king, st.bonaventure, fountain fullness, spiritual